Bogue Chitto community to celebrate $3.8M clean water project in July 

July is usually pretty dry in west Dallas County, but not this year.  

On July 11, the Bogue Chitto community will celebrate the completion of a $3.8 million project that will bring clean water to 69 homes.   

Bogue Chitto is an unincorporated community founded in the early 1900s about 15 miles west of Selma. Many residents are descendants of slaves. The community has historically been underserved, especially when it comes to water, according to Maggie Drake Peterson of the West Dallas Water Board.  

More than 10 years ago, Dallas County and the West Dallas Water Authority officials learned that well water in the area was “unfit for human consumption” because it was contaminated with E. coli, formaldehyde and other chemicals, Peterson said. Faulty septic tanks and clay soil contributed to raw sewage on the ground, which flowed into private wells, she said.   

Peterson said a group of leaders, including Finis Harris, who was chairman of West Dallas Water Authority at the time, consultant Mallory Chandler, County Commissioners Larry Nickles and Curtis Williams, former Dallas County Probate Judge Kim Ballard and the Water Authority of West Dallas County’s Board of Directors, met numerous times with residents to tell them about the test results. But Peterson said residents didn’t want to absorb the information. She said some were skeptical, others believed it was a ploy to separate them from their property and others just chose not to accept the news.  

“Finally, more reasonable minds prevailed in the community,” Peterson said. The Dallas County Commission and the West Dallas Water Board received a grant and loans through ADECA totaling $3.8 million. That money was used to connect some 69 homes and one church to a clean, safe water supply. The project officially started with a kickoff ceremony on Nov. 7, 2022.  

“Reaching this point of connecting and providing a safe and reliable supply of water has not been without obstacles,” Peterson said. “The goal required the collaboration of numerous persons to reach this desirous solution to supply safe drinking water to Bogue Chitto Community.”  

The hard work will be celebrated July 11 at New Vernon Church starting at 10 a.m. Dignitaries and community members will speak, and snacks will be served, including clean, clear water.