A couple dozen people were asking for water service at last week's meeting of the Bedford County Utility District Board of Commissioners.

Some were told their requests would be considered next year while others, like that of the Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church in Wheel, were given some priority.

"This project was approved before," Commissioner Randy Head said, unable to give an underlying reason for delay, "but folks didn't buy taps and things fell through the cracks."

Extending water lines must be financially feasible for the district to work toward that goal, Head said and Commissioner Wendell Smith concurred, explaining about 10 water taps per mile of water main are needed to justify the cost.

Head continued, "There are other things like water pressure to be considered."

Faced with a significant portion of the UMC congregation, Smith moved to make the request a top priority.

"But we need a definite number of taps when it comes to budget time to put it on the top priority of jobs," Smith said.

The board unanimously adopted Smith's motion favoring the request.

It's been decades since the church had potable water.

"Our water was condemned 30-some years ago," said church member Lisa Hobbs, explaining bottled water and a fountain with a jug have been used.

"Our church is growing and we want to expand," she said.

Phillip Heath, chairman of the administrative board of the church, said the church has nearly 110 members and the building can seat about 100.

The congregation wants to double the size of the building, Heath said.

That, said Frank Butler, who preceded Heath as committee chairman, would mean a building of some 4,000 square feet.

Water board members noted there are various ways to get water to the church, and Hobbs said there are a dozen to 15 homes where potable water is needed because of the quality of the ground water.

It's sulphur water, she said. "Sinks stay rusted and coated with it. We have to have a filter in the refrigerator, the washing machine and the pump house."

Sulphur, also known as sulfur, is a common pale-yellow nonmetallic element used in black gunpowder, rubber vulcanization, the manufacture of insecticides and pharmaceuticals, and the preparation of hydrogen sulfide and sulfuric acid.

When carried in humid air, sulfur can make silver turn dark and has a harmful effect on electronic equipment such as radios, TVs, computers and stereos.

That aspect of water quality has been used in neighboring Rutherford County as a reason to apply for state and/or federal loans to finance the extension of water lines.

BCUD commissioners' reaction to the church's request "sounds promising," said Heath, the church's administrative board chairman. "We're trying to get commitments from the community."

Toby Hobbs said, "I think if we had 20 (requests for taps,) they'd commit to it. I think we have 18."

Anita Murray of Coleman Harvey Lane said she participated in what she and her friends believed to have been the first of three requests for water to the area. That was in 2004, she said.

Other water requests were for new housing subdivisions and individual homeowners.

Jim Jarrell represented developers of Blackberry Ridge saying permission granted more than a year ago had expired, so they wanted to proceed as planned and were told OK.

That came on a motion from Commissioner Kennon Threet who made an announcement to be sure others present understood: "The developer pays for his own" pipes and installation. That's a typical requirements everywhere. Government doesn't usually subsidize developers' work with infrastructure.

Blackberry Ridge delayed installation of water pipes to planned home sites because of a delay in state approval for the sewage treatment system, Jarrell explained.

A STEP (Septic Tank Effluent Pump) System is to be installed by Pickney Brothers for the Blackberry Investments group, Jarrell said.

STEP systems have septic tanks for each home, but a pump at each tank sends liquid through pipes to a central system of field lines, or another system of disposal. That's in contrast to each home having its own field lines where the earth absorbs the treated sewage, also known as effluent.

Water from the system is an alternate source for the Blackberry Ridge golf course irrigation system, Jarrell said.

Bill Gregory of Gregory Mill Road was another county resident approaching the BCUD Board for water connections. He wants three taps and said he believes they may need a water pipe extension of 1,800 feet.

Fred Patterson also sought an extension. His might have to be 1,200 feet at Roy Moore Road near U.S. 41-A. To provide the utility with an incentive to consider his project, Patterson offered to clean-up the ground after the pipe is installed, sow grass seed over the closed ditch and buy the pipe if the utility will dig the ditch and take other steps toward installation.

Others at the meeting offered to provide some of the work toward water service extensions. It's a procedure seen in other government projects such as the Tennessee Department of Transportation allowing municipalities to acquire rights of way for roads and conducting Environmental Impact Statements for roads.