A new loan from Communities Unlimited is helping the Perry County Water Authority modernize its aging system and move away from time-consuming manual meter reading.
The nonprofit authority, which serves more than 1,100 connections in and around Marion, recently closed on financing that will allow it to replace 400 of its roughly 30-year-old, manually read meters with advanced meters that can be read remotely and flag possible leaks more quickly.
Office Manager Cynthia Hornbuckle said staff had been spending long days driving the system, climbing in and out of trucks and sometimes digging out buried meters just to record readings.
Hornbuckle worked with Communities Unlimited management specialist Bria Hines, who walked the authority through the lending and documentation process. Hornbuckle said the clear communication made a complex project manageable for a small office, calling the experience “very good” and saying Hines “helped me a lot in understanding what was needed and how to gather it.”
Like many rural systems, Perry County Water Authority has been battling major water loss tied to leaks and deteriorating distribution lines. The authority has already begun a separate project, financed by a USDA loan, to replace its lines.
With the new meters in place alongside those improvements, Hornbuckle expects more accurate data and faster detection of problems; she estimated that water loss, currently about 67 percent, could be reduced by nearly a third.
System leaders also hope the upgrades will reduce emergency repairs and lower water-loss expenses over time. To help cover rising costs and new debt payments, the authority implemented a 20 percent rate increase in June 2025.
Hornbuckle described the Communities Unlimited project as her first time managing a financing effort of this scale, but said the support she received left the authority better prepared to oversee its system and plan future improvements for rural customers.
