Mayor Jeff Hall stood amid filters the size of swimming pools at the Newark Water Treatment Plant and talked about how most folks take drinking water for granted.
“You just turn on the spigot and the water comes out,” he said during a news conference at the plant on Monday, April 21, adding that while it might seem simple for anyone who takes a moment to think about it, “a lot goes on behind the scenes to provide that water.”
The staff of the facility on Waterworks Road, next to the North Fork of the Licking River, work around the clock to make sure it’s safe. They take nothing for granted when it comes to making sure that when 51,000 people in the Licking County city turn on the tap, they will receive clean water.
And that’s why they were happy to receive a $39,000 grant Monday from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to pay for an early alert system if contaminants get into the North Fork of the Licking River upstream of the city’s water intake system. The money will also pay for a public education program and a containment system to keep any potential contamination from entering the treatment plant.
The Newark grant, and a $20,000 grant to Johnstown for a water audit to find leaks in that northwestern Licking County city’s system, were among $2.7 million in Ohio EPA grants announced Monday for 116 Ohio drinking water systems in 58 of the state’s 88 counties.
About a third of the grants – 41 – are for emergency back-up generators to keep water systems working during local power outages. Thirty are to find and fix water leaks in water systems. Twenty-three are for water-source protection measures. And 22 are for addressing abandoned wells.
Amy Klei, chief of the Ohio EPA Division of Drinking and Ground Water, said that all of the grants are “part of an effort to ensure safe drinking water across Ohio.”
The grants range from about $2,000 to $50,000, and that might seem like a small amount in the context of a multi-million-dollar operation, said Newark Water Administrator Brandon Fox, but the Newark grant will allow the city to do important things.
Among them, he said, will be to talk with residents and school children in the 226 square miles of rural area along the North Fork of the Licking River north of Newark “to let them know that what they do can affect people downstream.”
The early detection system of monitors along the river “will allow us to take precautions if needed – including shutting down the plant until any potential contaminants pass by,” Fox said.
But the goal is to keep any potential spills of contaminants from entering the river. Fox said the city will partner with the Licking County Soil and Water Conservation District to help spread the message about the importance of keeping river water clean.
Kyle Seitz, watershed specialist for the Licking County Soil and Water Conservation District, said he’d like to see more residents of the rural areas north of Newark to join the district’s “Stream Team,” which is a group of volunteers that are trained to regularly take water samples to monitor the quality.
“We have one person in Utica and another in St. Louisville, and one on Clear Fork,” he said, referring to a North Fork tributary. “It would be great to have more landowners willing to participate.”
| Read more: Testing the waters: Volunteers help Licking County Soil & Water Conservation District keep an eye on stream health
Mayor Hall said Newark is still using a $50,000 EPA grant awarded more than two years ago to find and replace old lead and galvanized supply lines connecting the city’s main water lines to the meters in individual homes. Lead pipes can leach lead into the water supply, creating a health hazard, and galvanized pipes are sometimes connected to the system with a lead connector.
The replacements are free to property owners who need them.
Fox said about 2,500 lines have been replaced so far, and another 2,000 or so should be replaced in the next 18 months to two years.
Here are other central Ohio projects being funded by Ohio EPA grants:
Emergency generator grants to Harvest Square MHP in Champaign County, $47,425; Jeffersonville Village in Fayette County, $35,995; Maysville Regional Water in Muskingum County, $50,000; and Southern Perry Co-Congo in Perry County, $12,532.
Water audit/water loss grants to Canal Pointe Industrial Park in Fairfield County, $20,000; Thurston Village in Fairfield County, $19,250; City of Canal Winchester in Franklin County, $20,000; Ada Village in Hardin County, $20,000, City of Kenton in Hardin County, $20,000; New Concord in Muskingum County, $20,000; Roseville in Muskingum County, $20,000; Thornville in Perry County, $20,000; and Williamsport in Pickaway County, $20,000.
Well abandonment grants to Amanda in Fairfield County, $6,000; Quincy Village in Logan County, $5,832; Candlewood Lake Association in Morrow County, $29,950; and Foxlair Farms MHP in Pickaway County, $2,653.
Source water protection grants to Thurston Village in Fairfield County, $1,030; City of Kenton in Hardin County, $4,502; and City of Circleville in Pickaway County, $4,990.
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.