Lucas County among recipients of state water infrastructure grants

Oct. 26—COLUMBUS — Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday awarded Lucas County $3 million to replace parts of an aging sewer interceptor that runs to the county's sewage treatment plant in Monclova Township.

The project will potentially benefit 100,000 people in western Lucas County, including Sylvania, Maumee, Waterville, Holland, and Whitehouse, according to Jim Shaw, the county's sanitary engineer.

The money to reinforce the deteriorated portion of the main interceptor sanitary sewer that carries flow to the Lucas County Water Resource Recovery Facility is part of $93 million in water infrastructure grants to 54 projects, of which 11 are in northwest Ohio, according to the governor's office.

"This grant is very timely because the project is shovel-ready — it is ready to go to the construction phase," Mr. Shaw said. "It is a critical but aging component of the 10-mile sanitary sewer."

Nate Inkrott, the county assistant sanitary engineer, said the project is a preventive measure to keep the county sanitary sewer system in operational condition.

"This is very important," Mr. Inkrott said. "It will help maintain the structural integrity of the sanitary sewer interceptor to prevent any major failure."

The 90-inch sewer portion will be cleaned, re-lined, and reinforced. It is about 1,600 feet long and about 50 years old, Mr. Inkrott said.

The project is expected to start sometime in the spring and should take two months to complete, Mr. Inkrott said. A contractor would be hired through a bidding process to do the job.

The other northwest Ohio communities and the respective funds, projects they are earmarked for, and the numbers of people or households they would benefit are:

— Fayette: $10 million to replace the current water distribution system that is deteriorating and is under Ohio EPA mandate for replacement — 1,250 people.

— Norwalk: $5 million to install about 8,500 feet of sewer to intercept the flow from the city's last two combined sewer overflows — at least 17,000 people.

— Bryan: $2.1 million to replace about 8,200 feet of aging clay or vitrified clay sewer lines and reduce storm-water infiltration into the city sanitary sewer system — 744 people.

— Genoa: $1.2 million to improve sanitary pump stations that have reached the end of their useful lives — 3,500 people.

— Hicksville: $1.03 million to develop a new wellfield to replace the current failing and inefficient wellfield — 3,434 people.

— Kalida: $900,000 to improve existing lagoons and add an additional lagoon as part of the Kalida Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion — 1,542 people.

— Bettsville: $500,247 to improve the village's wastewater treatment system and limit phosphorus discharges — 825 people.

— Allen County: $500,000 to repair or replace 9,300 feet of low-pressure sewer collection lines, along with grinder pumps, a pump station, and 23,000 feet of 6-inch force main — 400 people.

— Pemberville: $289,600 to replace aging 6-inch, dead-end waterlines, primarily consisting of cast-iron lines from the 1930s — 187 people.

— Milan: $38,983 to replace a current water line that has been prone to slipping down a hillside and is made from substandard piping — 22 households.

The Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grants are meant to "reduce or eliminate" local financial burdens associated with critical infrastructure needs, according to a news release from the governor's office.

The $93 million is the first round of water infrastructure grants, part of a total of $250 million in grant funding to be invested in water infrastructure projects through the Ohio BUILDS initiative. The remainder of the water infrastructure grants will be awarded in the coming weeks.

"These grants are about strengthening our future, our people, and our communities," Governor DeWine said in a prepared statement. "We want our kids and grandkids to stay in Ohio, and clean water is essential to the health and future of our state... and with these grants, we are continuing our mission to provide access to economic development tools that will help communities grow and thrive well into the future."