FERRIDAY — Feb. 19 is do or die for the proposal to overhaul Ferriday’s water system.

That’s the day the town has to have all of its information about its contract with Triton Company ready for the state bond commission.

The bond commission has to approve any debt a municipality incurs.

The Ferriday board of aldermen voted in October to allow Mayor Glen McGlothin to sign the contract with Triton, a 20-year agreement that will result in the replacement of all of the town’s water meters and the construction of two new water tanks at the town’s water treatment plant.

Triton will also rehabilitate the inside of the water plant and install new electronic communication equipment.

The contract has not been executed yet because the town wants to add the option of early payout, McGlothin said.

“If I can see down the line that we are making money, I would like to go to the local banks and get a lower interest rate and a lower note,” McGlothin said. “Their contract did not allow for that.”

The new version of the contract — which is currently being completed — will be virtually identical, except it have the option of an early payout.

“I don’t want some other mayor to be stuck 10 or 12 years down the road with something we have done,” McGlothin said. “One of the water plants has been a drain on the economy of Ferriday for so many years, so we want to avoid doing that again.”

The state legislative auditor reviewed the water system’s finances last April.

“They made suggestions on how to improve the cash flow, and it was suggested that they make sure the billing was correct,” Town Attorney Anna Ferguson said.

That meant replacing the water meters, some of which don’t read accurately and others that don’t work at all.

Currently, there is a flat rate minimum for both residential and business customers, a hangover from old requirements imposed by a previous lender whose debt obligations have been met, Ferguson said.

Ferguson said with the new, more accurate meters, some customers bills will likely go up, but McGlothin has previously said that the system will increase the town’s utility revenue by $300,000 a year just by keeping accurate records.

The total Triton-associated costs will be $2.3 million.

At the same time, a water retention pond will be built at the water plant with a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That money was originally given to the town in 1996, and the engineering work that went along with that grant had to be redone before it could be turned in to the USDA because the information was so old and the town had waited so long that they either had to complete the project or give the money back, McGlothin said.

The retention pond will hold the town’s water — which is pumped from Old River — for approximately 48 hours, allowing organic matter to fall to the bottom.

Adding that one step will both improve water quality and reduce chemical treatment costs, McGlothin said.

“We’re ready to get this done,” he said. “We’ve been working on this for 12 years.”