The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Vicksburg District entered into a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) with the City of Brandon, Miss., as part of the Mississippi Environmental Infrastructure Program (Section 592) on Tuesday.

The signing ceremony was held at Brandon City Hall. Mayor Butch Lee signed the PPA for the City of Brandon, and Col. Robert Hilliard, Vicksburg District commander, signed for USACE.

“Work on the 592 is so rewarding because you can see how it directly benefits communities and people,” Hilliard said. “When you think about investing in America’s infrastructure, we’re proud to be a part of this project and how it will help people.”

The City of Brandon’s water system improvements will include the design and construction assistance for a water tower for a total cost of $4.38 million. This cost-share agreement is 75 percent federally funded and 25 percent non-federally funded.

“The 592 Program is unique to the state of Mississippi. No matter the USACE district the city is in, the Vicksburg District covers the whole state, making us the best partner in the valley,” Hilliard said.

The Section 592 Program provides environmental assistance to non-federal interests in Mississippi. Assistance may be in the form of design and construction assistance for water-related environmental infrastructure and resource protection and development projects in Mississippi. This includes, but is not limited to, projects for wastewater treatment and related facilities, elimination or control of combined sewer overflow, water supply and related facilities, environmental restoration, and surface water resource protection and development. Assistance may be provided only for projects that are publicly owned and the non-federal interest must enter into a written cost-share agreement to furnish its required cooperation for the project.

The USACE Vicksburg District is engineering solutions to the nation’s toughest challenges. The Vicksburg District encompasses a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, that holds nine major river basins and incorporates approximately 460 miles of mainline Mississippi River levees. The Vicksburg District is engaged in hundreds of projects and employs approximately 1,100 personnel.