County, township again discuss Licking View sewer issues
ZANESVILLE — The Muskingum County Commissioners, the Falls Township trustees and members of the county's engineering, water and sewer departments met on Monday to try and come to an agreement about how to proceed with the Licking View sewer replacement project.
The neighborhood, west of Zanesville along Licking and Rehl roads has been plagued by flooding when rain overwhelms the storm sewers. Compounding the woes from flooding, many homes illegally tapped into the system to use it as a sanitary sewer. When flooding does occur, it leaves raw sewage in the streets and lawns of the area. The system was originally built as a storm sewer, said Stan Lucas, head of the county sewer department, but residents tapped into the system, sending raw sewage into the Licking when the system worked, but into the streets and lawns of the area when it doesn't.
"We are trying to find an economical way" to handle both the storm sewer and sanitary sewer replacement, said Don Madden, head of the county water department. The design of a new sanitary sewer system has been completed, but now the county and township have to agree on what to do about the storm sewer. EPA rules mean the sanitary and storm sewers have to be separate systems.
See: County, township start talks about Licking View sewer
See: Licking View residents have complained about sewage, flooding for years
County Engineer Mark Eicher said there were several options available to deal with the system, from a $700,000 project that would bore under the railroad tracks along Licking Road to drain into the Licking River, to a much cheaper solution that would send storm runoff under Licking Road to a ditch that drains into the Licking River beyond Interstate 70 to the south. Either project would require new pipes and catch basins in the Licking View area.
The main sticking point is paying for the storm sewer portion of the project. Falls Township has committed $150,000 of its allocation of American Rescue Plan money. Eicher said the system that would drain along Licking Road would cost about $300,000.
Falls Township Trustee John Huey said the trustees are hesitant to spend more than that because of fairness. "We are trying to be fair," he said. "We can't spend all of our money on 86 houses while we have 3,000 in the township," he said. The commissioners and township disagree on the number of houses, with the commissioners stating there are 119 houses affected. The township was allocated $872,681 in ARPA funding by the State of Ohio.
"We are just trying to do it right," said Commissioner Jim Porter. If the county is going to install a sanitary sewer, they should take the opportunity to install a storm sewer at the same time, he said, to solve both parts of the problem.
Doing both at once would be the most cost effective option for getting both a new sanitary sewer and storm sewer built, said Eicher.
Commissioner Molly Crooks said the project is overdue. "As long as I have been here, I have heard about the needs over there," she said.
Another option, said Lucas, is to leave the existing storm sewer and hope it can keep up. It has been cleaned out, but it is nearing the end of its useful life, Madden said. The system is made of up 8" clay tile pipe. The county did promise to repair any damage to the existing storm sewer done during construction of the sanitary sewer.
The sanitary sewer project will cost between $3 and $5 million, Eicher said, depending on when it starts and inflation. Funding sources for the storm sewer, beyond the township's $150,000, have not been identified, but Madden noted the recently passed federal infrastructure program will have money available starting in the fall. Some of the funding for the sanitary sewer will come from the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund from the Ohio EPA. The Muskingum County Engineer's Office would combine both projects when they apply for funding, and do both projects at once, which would result in a cost savings. Because the area is low-income, Crooks said, that should improve the county's chances to qualify for grants. "There is a clear need for the project," she said.
Should the county and township come to an impasse about funding the storm sewer, the system would not be built, and county would proceed with only the sanitary sewer portion.
ccrook@gannett.com
740-868-3708
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This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: County, township again discuss Licking View sewer issue
