Utilities accuse each other of misinformation as they lobby EPA for approval to provide water and sewer service in western Licking County

Two utilities are vying for the blessings of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to provide water and sewer service in fast-growing western Licking County. 

The Licking Regional Water District sent a letter to the EPA in February asking that the EPA affirm its position that it is already the designated official provider for Jersey, Monroe and St. Albans townships.

A recently formed coalition of Alexandria, Granville and Johnstown – the Municipal Utility Coalition of Licking County – sent a letter to the EPA on May 15 responding to the LRWD letter and arguing that the coalition should be the designated service provider for much of the same area.

Jersey and Monroe townships are particularly hot for development, in part because the New Albany International Business Park is largely located on land annexed from Jersey Township, and Intel is building its $28 billion computer-chip manufacturing campus there, just south of Johnstown.

The letters from the two utility organizations get deep into the weeds about specific reasons each believes it is the superior choice to provide water and sewer service to the area. They also accuse each other of providing misleading information to the EPA and the public about the other.

The debate over water and sewer service in the western part of the county has been tense since 2022 when the Licking County Commissioners approved a large expansion of LRWD’s service area. 

| Read more: Southwest Licking utility moves forward with plans to build a sewage-treatment plant west of Granville

It heated up after LRWD, formerly known as Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District, in 2023 bought 92 acres on a hill along Outville Road between Rt. 161 and Morse Road. And it set off alarm bells within the municipalities along the nearby Rt. 37 corridor – Granville, Alexandria and Johnstown – when LRWD announced plans for a wastewater plant on the site as soon as possible and a drinking-water treatment plant there in the future.

Officials in the three municipalities and the townships that surround each one – Granville, St. Albans and Monroe townships – raised concerns about the environmental impact of the proposed wastewater plant, which would send 3 million gallons or more a day of treated wastewater into Moots Run, a stream that currently is nearly dry on some summer days. The municipalities also are concerned about their ability to manage growth in ways that protect the character of their communities and schools from being overrun with rapid enrollment growth.

| Read more: EPA asked to deny permit for Southwest Licking’s proposed wastewater treatment plant in St. Albans Township

In an email, EPA Press Secretary Bryant Somerville said the EPA “does not have an opinion on the request from either party, however our agency will absolutely review and give equal consideration to every comment that is submitted.”

Meanwhile, he said, the EPA has been reviewing the LRWD revised request for a permit for what it calls the Raccoon Creek Wastewater Treatment Center. LRWD made revisions to address comments about the application made during a July 2024 public hearing.

Somerville said the EPA is taking public comments on the updated permit application, and a second public meeting 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.

“Ohio EPA reviews and considers all public comments and letters submitted to the director,” he said.

At the heart of the debate is Section 208 of the federal Clean Water Act, which LRWD said in its letter “requires states to adopt Water Quality Management Plans to ensure the efficient coordination of wastewater service, protect water quality and guide infrastructure investments in alignment with long-term regional planning.”

In Ohio, those so-called “208 plans” assign service areas to providers, and the Municipal Utility Coalition argues that the existing plan was written long before explosive growth came to western Licking County and that the service areas should be changed because they already have water and wastewater plants, and pipes in the ground, to service the area. 

| Read more: Johnstown, Alexandria and Granville formalize utility coalition in effort to manage growth and maintain rural character

Officials from Alexandria, Granville and Johnstown also say that the municipalities and surrounding townships are best equipped to manage growth in accordance with their local development plans if they control the water and sewer service.

Jim Roberts, executive director of Licking Regional Water District, said in his February letter to the EPA that the utility was designated as the provider for the State Route 16 corridor, including all of Jersey and St. Albans townships, as far back as 2010. He also wrote that a 2015 revision of the Water Quality Management Plan expanded the LRWD service area to include Monroe Township, which is where Johnstown is located.

Further, Roberts said in the letter that members of the Municipal Utility Coalition have no authority to provide services outside their municipalities, that their capacity to provide services is much less than LRWD’s planned facilities would allow, and that the municipalities don’t have the financial capability to expand to meet the anticipated demands.

And, he said, the coalition’s tactics to challenge LRWD’s facility expansion plans – which he said included false claims about the utility – have delayed construction plans, driven up costs, and “diverted resources from infrastructure investments and created unnecessary uncertainty for developers, businesses and communities.”

His letter, which was copied to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel and other state officials, said that “state leaders have emphasized the need to ‘get it right the first time,’ ensuring infrastructure is built for long-term growth rather than requiring costly retrofits. LRWD has planned responsibly, designing major trunk lines and treatment capacity to accommodate projected demand.”

Roberts urged the EPA to “reaffirm LRWD’s 208 Plan boundaries as described in the 2015 amendment,” which would “provide the certainty needed to move forward with essential infrastructure investments,” which includes the Raccoon wastewater treatment plant estimated at $85 million to $90 million.

In the municipal coalition’s 15-page letter, not including attachments, the mayors of Alexandria, Granville and Johnstown say that the coalition is equipped to serve the area with wastewater treatment plants in the three municipalities, and water treatment plants in Granville and Johnstown. And they said that they already have pipes in the vicinity, and their cost to expand facilities to meet future needs would be lower than the price LRWD would pay to build new infrastructure.

“Because this matter is as complicated as it is important, we have taken the liberty of preparing a comprehensive reply,” wrote mayors Sean Barnes of Alexandria, Melissa Hartfield of Granville and Donald Barnard of Johnstown.

“Underlying everything is a basic disagreement between the parties regarding their vision of the future of the area,” they wrote in their letter, which also was copied to DeWine and other top state officials. “The Coalition believes that economic development is essential, but successful long-term growth can only be achieved if it is planful, economically viable, and incorporates the residents’ desires to maintain the sense of community and the high-quality schools we have worked so hard to achieve. 

Their letter said that “LRWD’s objectives appear to be to ensure control of the service area and encourage growth at an aggressive pace and with higher density” than the coalition members want to see. 

LRWD’s plans conflict with the goals of the community as articulated in a set of recommendations developed through many community conversations and reflected in something called the FRAMEWORK report, which was funded and led by the T.J. Evans Foundation.

The mayors said aggressive growth, fertilized by water and sewer lines planted by LRWD, will overwhelm local schools and that the LRWD plan “is unsustainable and is likely to destabilize the area, both economically and culturally.”

| Read more: Ohio EPA approves renewed permit for wastewater treatment plant along small stream near Alexandria

Nick Eippert, chief legal counsel and director of external affairs for Licking Regional Water District said in response to the municipal coalition that the LRWD “letter to the Ohio EPA is not intended to suggest an all-or-nothing approach to service in Jersey,  St. Albans, or Monroe Townships. It reflects our commitment to a long-standing, legally recognized 208 Plan that promotes coordinated, cost-effective infrastructure planning across the region.”

He said that development decisions are made by local governments, not LRWD. 

“Our role is to respond when those decisions are made, ensuring that infrastructure is in place and scalable to meet demand,” Eippert said.

But the coalition says it has the support of Johnstown Monroe School District, Granville Exempted Village Schools and Denison University because the coalition has committed to the schools that it will manage growth to ensure that rapid, large-scale development doesn’t overwhelm the schools, and because the financial strength and limited debt held by collectively by the coalition would allow it to finance new or expanded facilities without “tax-increment financing, state grants or excessive user fees.” 

Comments to the EPA about LRWD’s Raccoon Creek facility plans can be submitted in person at the June 25 meeting in Johnstown, by email at the EPA’s Public Comment Form or by mailing comments to Ohio EPA – DSW, Attn: Permits Processing, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, OH, 43216-1049. Include the permit application number: OH0151691.

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.