05-13-03: Celina will try new technology to clean water

05-13-03: Celina will try new technology to clean water

By SEAN RICE
The Daily Standard

    Celina is taking a chance on new water treatment technology that may solve the city's water problems with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency at a fraction of the cost and time of other options.
    Safety-Service Director Mike Sovinski told Celina City Council members Monday night that U.S. Filter Products of Cary, N.C., will perform a pilot test on Celina's water using the Actiflo system, for half its usual cost.
    The testing will last approximately two weeks at $4,000 a week, Sovinski said. A mobile treatment unit will be towed to the water treatment plant and parked outside. It will test Actiflo's effectiveness at removing trihalomethanes from the raw water from the lake, before it enters the plant.
    If the treatment works, the city could opt for installing two new clarifiers with Actiflo technology, rather than proceeding down the road toward a new plant for nearly $8 million. The new clarifiers would cost near $1 million and a wall in the plant would come out to fit the equipment.
    The clarifying tanks are one of several components in the treatment plant. Officials hope more effective clarifiers will result in the other components working better to clean the water.
    The Ohio EPA has ordered Celina to provide a permanent fix for the water system after repeated violations of high levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) in the water. Celina is following steps provided by the EPA and also will be digging a test well north of the city to find a cleaner source than Grand Lake St. Marys. The city can abandon the EPA order to build a new $8 million plant, if an alternative arises that sufficiently solves the poor water quality issue.
    On the well front, Sovinski announced that Reynold's Inc., of Middletown, was the lowest bidder in its search for a well digger. The company offered a bid of $44,414 to dig wells and perform studies on the water found on a site a mile north of Celina on U.S. 127. The council took no action, as a formal agreement will be signed at a later date. The highest bid was $81,000.
    Council members also asked Police Chief Dave Slusser to give an update on what kind of actions officers are using to persuade city residents into obeying junk and high grass laws.
    Slusser said 28 properties have been contacted for excessive junk, automobiles or for a grass/weeds nuisance this year already. Most residents fix the problem promptly, but a handful the chief labeled as recurring offenders.
    "We have some people who don't cut their grass until we tell them to," Slusser said.
    Some property owners moved automobiles to other properties, or into garages, only to repeat the offense shortly after, the chief said.
    "Though, most are cleaned up with one phone call," Slusser said.
    When questioned about repeat offenders, Slusser said, "you can't force an irresponsible person to be responsible." Council members questioned if there is any stricter action to take against repeat of-fenders, and if the city's ordinance needs to be updated. Slusser said some property owners fight the city in court.
    Some council members told Slusser to drag them into court if he has to, and asked if the department is the suitable agency for the responsibility.
    "We have limited resources," Slusser said. "When it comes down to property crimes and nuisance complaints ... we have to make snap decisions."
    In other business:
    - Councilors passed an ordinance raising sewer rates by 24 percent over two years to a third reading. Not enough members were in attendance to pass it as an emergency, as the administration planned.
    Councilman Denny Smith said Tom Knapke of Wright State University-Lake Campus offered to act as a facilitator for economic development forums the city plans to hold. Smith said they would be part of "on-going sessions on economic development." A forum was scheduled for 7 p.m. May 29 at the Richardson-Bretz Memorial Building.
    - Councilman Ron Hammons announced that signs on the city's list of abandoned signs have begun to come down. The Misery Mansion sign on Logan Street came down Saturday "in a small ceremony," he said.

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