MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – It’s no secret that the troubled utility that provides water to customers in Prichard and Chickasaw needs money – and lots of it.

John S. Young Jr., who has been running the system since a judge appointed him receiver in 2023, secured a $5.8 million grant from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. But he acknowledges that is a drop in the bucket and said finding more money is difficult in the current political environment.

Young said the system needs $400 million over the next 20 years to make all of the repairs and upgrades necessary to overcome decades of neglect to a system that loses more than half of the water it buys from the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System.

A chart included in a supplemental draft master plan highlights the utility’s precarious financial position. Project revenue – assuming no rate hikes – shows a surg this year and next due to grant money. But without additional grants, the system barely generates enough revenue to pay operating expenses. There is money to make debt payments or replace pipes and fix plants and equipment.

Young said making significant headway on the system’s deficiencies is the only way to persuade MAWSS to take over the Prichard, which he argued is the only viable long-term solution. He is trying to get federal help, but he suggested it is not the best time to ask the national government for help.

“Given what’s going on in Washington right now, it’s really hard to figure out what the timeline’s gonna be,” he said.

Young partnered with a pair of nonprofit organizations, Mobile Baykeeper and Groundwork, on a $20 million “Community of Change” grant application to the Environmental Protection Agency. If successful, the utility would receive $15 million of that.

But the Trump administration has frozen those applications.

Young said he has asked ADEM for another $34 million. But he said federal uncertainty also affects state funding

“I’ve talked directly to the EPA people in Washington and obviously, we’re working very closely with ADEM,” he said. “So you know, we’re looking under every rock right now.”

That includes, Young said, asking for help from Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) and Katie Britt (R-Montgomery), as well as Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Mobile). Britt sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which decides how to spend taxpayer money. That could make her an influential voice.

Grace Evans, a spokeswoman for Britt, told FOX10 News that her office is working with the receiver and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

“Ensuring Alabamians have access to clean and safe drinking water continues to be a top priority for Senator Britt’s work in D.C.,” she wrote in an email.

Mobile Baykeeper Cade Kistler says there should be no doubt Prichard’s needs are great.

“I mean, this is one of the worst water wastewater situations in the country, much less the state,” he said.

Kistler said his organization is most concerned with chronic sewage spills, adding up to some 50 million gallons in the past few years. He called it a “public health emergency.” But he added that the system also has problems on the drinking water side.

“Somebody needs to make sure we get the money there as soon as possible,” he told FOX10 News. “You know, if you look at what the receiver’s done, there is a plan now – engineered, sequence-scope projects. You know, the shovel-ready plan is there, but none of that works without the resources.”

Young has been taking his case to the community. And he will get another chance on Tuesday night at a meeting hosted by United Concerned Citizens of Prichard at Word of Life Community Church on Craft Highway. The organization’s president, Severia Campbell Morris, supports Young’s MAWSS merger plan.

“I think that we got the right person,” he said. “God has placed the right person in place to do this. … That’s his expertise. He know how to go about getting it, the funds out there.”

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