Several local communities to receive millions of dollars to fund water infrastructure improvements

VANDALIA — The State of Ohio will distribute millions of dollars in grants to several local communities as part of an effort to improve the water infrastructure across the entire state.

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine made appearances in parts of the state, including Taylorsville MetroPark in Vandalia Tuesday afternoon, to announce how parts of the $250 million in funding will be distributed.

The first part of the grant was announced Tuesday, with $93 million going to 54 projects that will have impacts in 60 of Ohio’s 88 counties. The remaining funds will be awarded at a later date but the funds will ultimately have an impact in every county in the state, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said.

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The initiative, titled Ohio BUILDS is part of DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative which launched in 2019. The goal of the project is to “focus on ensuring plentiful, clean, and safe water for communities across the state,” the spokesperson said.

“We want our kids and grandkids to stay in Ohio, and clean water is essential to the health and future of our state,” DeWine said.

“Protecting and ensuring that every community in Ohio has access to safe and clean water has been our mission from the start, 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.”

Several area communities will receive parts of the $93 million in funding for projects to improve either drinking water, or waste water infrastructure, according to the governor’s office:

• Tri-Cities North Regional Wastewater Authority, Miami and Montgomery counties: $2.4 million to line an over 8,000 foot sewer main that’s 30 inches in diameter. The pipe is the main interceptor from Tipp City and Vandalia to the authority’s treatment plant. “Recent collapses of this interceptor, located in the Taylorsville Metro Park, have created an urgent need to line the other sections that have been identified as ‘at-risk’ quickly,” the spokesperson said. The project will benefit 67,000 people.
• Shelby County Board of Commissioners: $2 million for improvements to the county’s wastewater treatment plant. “The current facility is outdated and in need of major repairs, leading to untreated wastewater leaving the plant during high water events. This project serves 3,864 people in the village of Kettlersville, the village of Fort Loramie, Cynthian Township, McClean Township, and VanBuren Township,” the spokesperson said.
• Middletown: $1.12 million to build a new tank and pumping system to enable the city to discharge the drinking water plant’s filter backwash to the sanitary sewer. The current system is overloaded and does not have the storage capacity for lime residuals. The new tank will alleviate approximately half of the current discharge to the lagoon and will improve the existing issues with the lime lagoon until the city can construct a lime processing facility.
• Palestine-Hollansburg Joint Sewer District, Darke County: $1.5 million to build a regional centralized wastewater system to serve the incorporated villages of Palestine and Hollansburg, the unincorporated area of Glen Karn, and the corridor in between these areas located in Harrison and Liberty Townships of Darke County. The project will eliminate failing household sewage treatment systems.
• Lebanon, Warren County: $4 million to replace the entire Glosser Road Pump Station. Around 80 percent of the city’s wastewater goes to this site and is pumped five miles to the current wastewater treatment plant. “The existing Glosser Road pump station is 60 years old, has already undergone two major renovations, and is at or beyond the end of its useful life. This project will benefit 16,500 people.”
• New Bremen, Auglaize County: $685,000 to reduce sludge in lagoons. The reduction is necessary to plant prepare the wastewater treatment plant to meet the Ohio EPA’s requirements in the plant’s new wastewater discharge permit.
• Russells Point, Logan County: $100,000 grant for the planning and engineering design of a project to replace a storm water sewer system that has deteriorated and is non-functional.

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