Natasha Vaughn is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Chatham village officials have announced they are exploring the possibility of applying for grant money to improve the village's water distribution system. The Village Board this month authorized The Chazen Companies to request $1 million in Community Development Block Grant funding through the state’s Consolidated Funding Application to improve water distribution service in the Austerlitz Street and Housman Avenue neighborhoods. The village is also looking for funds to pay for the replacement of water mains in some areas of the village, Mayor John Howe said. The Community Block Grant Development program requires that each CDBG-funded activity must either mainly benefit low and moderate-income persons, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or meet a community development need deemed to be urgent because existing conditions pose a serious threat to the health or welfare of the community and other financial resources are not available to meet that need. The village is now distributing surveys to residents in the targeted sections of Austerlitz Street, Jones Avenue, Cottage Avenue, Housman Avenue, 1st, 2nd and 3rd streets, to collect income data. The survey is completely confidential, Howe said. He said the project is still in the very early stages and it is too soon to know when work could begin, and how much it would cost. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.