Licking County residents will have another opportunity on June 25 to tell the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency what they think of a Licking Regional Water District proposal to build a wastewater treatment plant on a hill just west of Granville and south of Alexandria.
The utility applied for a wastewater discharge permit in 2024, and the EPA held a public meeting for that application on July 16, 2024. More than 200 people attended, and the proposal was roundly criticized because opponents said it would upset the balance of nature by dumping too much treated wastewater into Moots Run, a Raccoon Creek tributary that is so small that it slows to a trickle during dry months.
Some also said the project was being “rushed” and didn’t consider the growth-management plans of surrounding communities that have their own utilities – Alexandria, Granville and Johnstown and the surrounding townships, in particular. Since the 2024 hearing, those three municipalities have formed the Municipal Utility Coalition of Licking County as an alternative to provide water and sewer service in portions of northwestern Licking County.
Based on comments from the first hearing on the proposal by Licking Regional Water District (LRWD), the utility revised the application and resubmitted it. That triggered a second public hearing, which will be held at 6 p.m. on June 25 at the Johnstown Branch of the Licking County Library, 320 N. Main Street, in Johnstown.
The facility, proposed for about 92 acres between Rt. 161/37 and Morse Road at Outville Road, would discharge an average daily flow of 3 million gallons per day into Moots Run. The permit would limit the quantities of pollutants that can be released and would impose monitoring requirements and other conditions.
Those who wish to comment can attend the June 25 meeting or submit comments directly via the EPA’s Public Comment Form; by mail to Ohio EPA-DSW, Attn: Permits Processing, PO Box 1049, Columbus, OH 43216-1049. Refer to application #OH0151691.
Licking Regional Water District, formerly known as Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District, says the proposed facility it calls the Raccoon Creek Wastewater Treatment Center would help meet anticipated regional demands from new manufacturing, commercial, and residential developments. In particular, LRWD Executive Director Jim Roberts has said the plant would serve the fast-growing Rt. 161 corridor west of Granville and Jersey Township, where the utility recently built a water tower.
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During the year that LRWD was revising its permit application and the Ohio EPA was reviewing it, the utility asked the EPA to renew a permit for a smaller sewage treatment plant closer to Alexandria in St. Albans Township. That permit originally was approved in 2019, but it was never built and the permit expired. The request to renew the permit at the same time the utility was pursuing a permit for the larger plant touched off another round of protest in January when the EPA held a hearing on the renewal.
Over the objections of area residents, the EPA approved the permit renewal in April. The permit allows the proposed facility to discharge anywhere from 250,000 to 1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into Pet Run, another small tributary of Raccoon Creek. The new Pet Run permit is good through 2030.
Roberts said in April that LRWD sought the permit renewal to keep its options open, but its priority is to build the larger Raccoon Creek facility near Moots Run.
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.