Saturday, June 17th, 2023
Grants totaling $1.5M will help fund projects
By William Kincaid
CELINA - Two state grants totaling nearly $1.5 million will go toward the construction of a second water tower in Fort Recovery and a water line expansion in Chickasaw.
The state will award $114 million to support 70 critical water infrastructure projects in 58 counties as part of the fourth funding round of the Ohio Broadband, Utilities and Infrastructure Development Success (BUILDS) water infrastructure program, Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik announced on Friday.
Fort Recovery landed $1.25 million to add a second water tower on the north side of town. In addition to putting up a 250,000-gallon elevated water tower, village officials plan to install 2,600 linear feet of water line to connect the new tower to the water distribution system, according to a state news release.
"The village's daily water consumption has increased throughout the past five years and the current water storage system does not accommodate the steady population growth," the release reads. "The project will benefit 2,000 people."
The newspaper was unable to reach Fort Recovery Village Administrator Randy Diller on Friday evening for additional project details.
Chickasaw secured $208,500 for a water line extension project to provide public water service to an unserved area.
"The waterline extension will also serve as a secondary feed from the treatment plant to the village's distribution system and prevent a critical infrastructure failure in the current single waterline," the release states. "The project includes the extension of 2,550 linear feet of waterline and associated valves and fire hydrants."
The project earlier this year was estimated at $175,000, plus engineering services up to $17,500.
Since its establishment, the BUILDS water infrastructure program has provided more than $360 million to support 253 local water projects impacting every county in the state, according to the release.
In December 2021, the program awarded $2.5 million to the village of Minster to build a new 1.25-million-gallon water tower and $680,000 to Celina to replace a failing water line.
Also under previous rounds of funding, the village of New Bremen was awarded $685,000 and the village of Rockford $850,000.
New Bremen used the dollars to dredge sludge from its wastewater lagoons, part of a plan to comply with new requirements in its Ohio Environmental Protection Agency wastewater discharge permit.
Rockford will use their funds to build a new water tower that will replace the existing one, which is almost 80 years old, according to officials.
The DeWine-Husted administration launched the Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure program in 2021 as a continuation of DeWine's H2Ohio initiative, which kicked off in 2019 to focus on ensuring plentiful, clean and safe water for communities across the state, according to the release.
In total, $500 million has been dedicated to the program, and a fifth round awarding additional funding will be announced later this summer.
The first three rounds of the program were funded with $250 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) appropriated by the Ohio General Assembly, according to the release. In response to the demand for water infrastructure support, the Legislature added an additional $250 million in ARPA funds to the program through House Bill 45, which DeWine signed into law in January.
"Ohio is the heart of opportunity, and for our state to continue to thrive, we must ensure that more communities have steady access to reliable, clean water," DeWine said in a statement. "My administration is committed to supporting as many local communities as possible with water projects that will improve quality of life and give residents more opportunities to live up to their God-given potential."
