Waldo to receive $2.5 million for water infrastructure

Met with cheers and countless handshakes, Governor Mike DeWine visited Marion County's Waldo Village to award Del-Co Water Company, Inc. $2.5 million to build Waldo a new clean water system Tuesday, the same day he announced the third and final round of Ohio BUILDS critical water projects.

An enormous sum for the small village, whose residents are currently operating with only personal wells, many of which are as old as from the 1950s and are located on the same lots as former failing septic system. The $2.5 million grant will benefit 300 people.

It will also improve the work of the Fort Morrow Fire Department, as currently the lack of a potable water system means there is no water flow for fire hydrants.

The fire department, located at the entrance to Waldo, was the proud host of the small Tuesday press conference where representatives from Del-Co, including CEO Glenn Marzluf, and Waldo leaders, including Mayor Bruce Baker, convened to meet Governor DeWine.

"Here in Waldo, we are providing a 2.5 million dollar grant. This will go to Del-Co Water to provide a new water system,” DeWine said.

“Right now there are individual wells, some going back a few decades, and this is what some residents depend upon," he continued. "This new water system will help create a safe and stable water supply, it will also mitigate a big public safety issue with regard to the fire department and their ability to deal with fires."

This announcement has arrived just over a month after Morral Village received a $5 million award for new sewer infrastructure in the first round of Ohio BUILDS grant funding, making the total amount given to Marion County $7.5 million.

This grant is portion of the $109 million in third-round grants to be be awarded to help fund critical water projects in all of Ohio's 88 counties, impacting 106 communities. In total, approximately $250 million in Ohio BUILDS grant funding is going toward 183 critical water infrastructure projects across the state, including the Morral sewer infrastructure project.

Del-Co Water Company, Inc. will construct a distribution system within the village and surrounding homes and connect the new water system to Del-Co's existing distribution system, about two miles south of the village.

Waldo Mayor of 27 non-consecutive years, Bruce Baker, proudly stood next to the Ohio governor Tuesday, welcoming him to Baker's beloved hometown.

“I really think we needed it bad,” Baker said. “I think it will be the best thing that happened to Waldo since the sewers. The sewers were a big project, and this will be equally as big. Waldo will grow. Not grow big, but it will grow.”

Waldo's need for this project is seemingly unquestionable. The new water system will address and help reduce health concerns to residents. It is the next step in making Waldo safer after building a mandatory sewer system to help eliminate the pollution of wells by individual septic systems.

Need aside, finding funding was the tricky part.

After shaking the governor's hand, Del-Co Water CEO, Glenn Marzluf, described the overwhelming community support his team first experienced toward the project since 2019 and the impasse they found due to the necessary multi-million dollar expense.

“We are going to work on faith. The US Congress has talked about these infrastructure dollars, maybe some dollars going forward, we’re going to work on faith and push forward and continue to fund the design knowing that the project, that Del-Co may never be reimbursed for it,” Marzluf said.

Now, the team's faith and hope in seeing this project carried out has been rewarded.

“When we get this water system build, we are confident that the public health and safety of Waldo residents is going to be significantly impacted for the good,” said Marzluf.

Story by: Sophia Veneziano (740) 564 - 5243 | sveneziano@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Waldo to receive $2.5 million for water infrastructure