Protecting the Boothbay region has been a goal of the Boothbay Region Water District for many years, so when the District Manager Jon Ziegra learned last week that $3.4 million is headed our way, he got excited.

The water district will receive a $1.2 million grant and a $2.2 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

Specifically the money will aid the expansion of the Southport water project, which is slated to begin sometime in 2014.

The plan is to merge two water systems by extending water pipes down the Route 238 corridor and across Townsend Gut to the four way intersection known as “Four Corners” in West Boothbay Harbor. Additionally, a 500,000 gallon concrete standpipe will be built on Southport where the old water tower currently sits.

Ziegra said the USDA funding is one of the largest disbursements the water district has received. While the $2.2 million loan will be borrowed at 3.2 percent interest rate, he said planning is underway with engineers and survey crews already working on site.

“I'm hoping that this summer we will actually break ground,” Ziegra said. “There are portions of the project that we can do that won't affect the population or tourism that much, but the bulk of it is going to have to get done next winter.”

Portions of Southport, such as the crossing at Townsend Gut, will only be worked on during the offseason to avoid impeding traffic flow, Ziegra said.

By the time the project wraps up in 2015, the water district will be able to serve drinking water to 3,267 customers and provide about a million gallons of fire protection at any one time.

“This is going to be a really good thing for fire protection,” Ziegra said. “It will basically be as near as an inexhaustible fire fighting supply for the town of Boothbay Harbor as you can get, and it will obviously benefit Boothbay and Southport as well.”