On Monday, June 23, 2008 Licking County Commissioner Tim Bubb was the main speaker for the ceremony culminating the two year long major construction project at the Buckeye Lake Regional Sewer Plant. It is an improvement project that finished on time and on budget, and will greatly enhance the quality of life in the Buckeye Lake region.
Bubb explained the plant, built in the 1980's, has added greatly to the quality of life and improved water quality in the region with customers in Licking, Fairfield and Perry Counties enjoying the benefits of this major public improvement. The arrival of the plant also resulted in a lifting of the EPA's no build order in the region. However, in recent years the plant was failing in capacity and treatment capability, and a new Federal EPA order led to the recent $10-million modernization and expansion. The facility, located in Buckeye Lake Village, is now poised to handle growth and increased sewage treatment requirements for the next quarter century.
Commissioner Bubb added, he is pleased the Licking County Board of Commissioners, as the lead agency, have worked with the residents of the region to assure a fair rate structure for operations. He added, a favorable one-percent long term financing package, through the Ohio EPA, will mean the savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars, through reduced rates, to the residents/customers of the system in the three county region.
In the photos above Commissioner Bubb is pictured at the plant and addressing the audience at the dedication ceremony. Also, Licking County Commissioners Bubb, Doug Smith and Mark Van Buren are pictured with young Abbi Snyder. Abbi attended the ceremony and met the Commissioners. She is related to Village resident and photographer Peggy Wells.
In the Tuesday June 24th Newark Advocate Business Reporter Kent Mallet filed this excellent report on the subject...
BUCKEYE LAKE -- The Buckeye Lake Sewer District's $10 million expansion of the wastewater treatment plant is complete and seems to have satisfied all parties involved.
The expansion, completed in February and officially recognized in a Monday ceremony at the site, complies with Environmental Protection Agency mandates to prevent sewage overflows into Wasteweir Run, which feeds into the South Fork of the Licking River.
Sewer district customers, furious in 2007 about a proposed 68 percent rate increase to pay for construction, benefit from improved water quality and a lower rate increase than initially proposed.
The Licking County commissioners, who oversee operation of the sewer district, announced early last year that monthly rates would increase annually from $29 in 2006, to $49 in 2007, and finally, to $62 in 2012.
However, thanks to a 1 percent EPA small community hardship loan, instead of bonds at 4 percent or 5 percent, the county reduced the planned increase. Rates rose on April 15, 2007, from $29 per equivalent dwelling unit to $37, with another raise expected in 2009.
"I want to thank everybody for improving our way of life out here," resident and former village councilwoman Peggy Wells told officials at Monday's ceremony. "We appreciate the commissioners for getting great financing."
The district serves residents of Buckeye Lake village, as well as neighboring subdivisions of Avondale, Harbor Hills and Edgewater Beach in Licking County, Fairfield Beach, Liebs Island and South Bank Road in Fairfield County, and Thorn Township in Perry County.
"The thing I really like about this plant is it really adds to the public safety -- the quality of water," County Commissioner Tim Bubb said. "This facility is poised to handle the growing area."
Kevin Eby, director of the Licking County Department of Water and Wastewater, said he probably will announce in July what the rate increase will be for 2009. He said it will not reach $50 per month.
The expansion allows the plant to treat 2 million gallons per day normal flow and up to 7 million gallons per day at peak periods. Before the expansion, the plant could handle 1.1 million per day normally and 2.6 million per day at peak times.
"We're able to treat some of the high flows with storm events," Eby said. "We can treat 100 percent of the raw wastewater. That means a lot to the area."
The county already paid $75,000 in penalties to Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA because of retention basin overflows during wet weather conditions.
"We tried, basically, to give them a system capable of serving present needs and future needs within reason, and for a wide variety of flow conditions," said Dale Kocarek, project manager with Stantec Consultants, of Columbus. And, we made it a priority for us to keep the cost of the project to an affordable minimum."
Bubb explained the plant, built in the 1980's, has added greatly to the quality of life and improved water quality in the region with customers in Licking, Fairfield and Perry Counties enjoying the benefits of this major public improvement. The arrival of the plant also resulted in a lifting of the EPA's no build order in the region. However, in recent years the plant was failing in capacity and treatment capability, and a new Federal EPA order led to the recent $10-million modernization and expansion. The facility, located in Buckeye Lake Village, is now poised to handle growth and increased sewage treatment requirements for the next quarter century.
Commissioner Bubb added, he is pleased the Licking County Board of Commissioners, as the lead agency, have worked with the residents of the region to assure a fair rate structure for operations. He added, a favorable one-percent long term financing package, through the Ohio EPA, will mean the savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars, through reduced rates, to the residents/customers of the system in the three county region.
In the photos above Commissioner Bubb is pictured at the plant and addressing the audience at the dedication ceremony. Also, Licking County Commissioners Bubb, Doug Smith and Mark Van Buren are pictured with young Abbi Snyder. Abbi attended the ceremony and met the Commissioners. She is related to Village resident and photographer Peggy Wells.
In the Tuesday June 24th Newark Advocate Business Reporter Kent Mallet filed this excellent report on the subject...
BUCKEYE LAKE -- The Buckeye Lake Sewer District's $10 million expansion of the wastewater treatment plant is complete and seems to have satisfied all parties involved.
The expansion, completed in February and officially recognized in a Monday ceremony at the site, complies with Environmental Protection Agency mandates to prevent sewage overflows into Wasteweir Run, which feeds into the South Fork of the Licking River.
Sewer district customers, furious in 2007 about a proposed 68 percent rate increase to pay for construction, benefit from improved water quality and a lower rate increase than initially proposed.
The Licking County commissioners, who oversee operation of the sewer district, announced early last year that monthly rates would increase annually from $29 in 2006, to $49 in 2007, and finally, to $62 in 2012.
However, thanks to a 1 percent EPA small community hardship loan, instead of bonds at 4 percent or 5 percent, the county reduced the planned increase. Rates rose on April 15, 2007, from $29 per equivalent dwelling unit to $37, with another raise expected in 2009.
"I want to thank everybody for improving our way of life out here," resident and former village councilwoman Peggy Wells told officials at Monday's ceremony. "We appreciate the commissioners for getting great financing."
The district serves residents of Buckeye Lake village, as well as neighboring subdivisions of Avondale, Harbor Hills and Edgewater Beach in Licking County, Fairfield Beach, Liebs Island and South Bank Road in Fairfield County, and Thorn Township in Perry County.
"The thing I really like about this plant is it really adds to the public safety -- the quality of water," County Commissioner Tim Bubb said. "This facility is poised to handle the growing area."
Kevin Eby, director of the Licking County Department of Water and Wastewater, said he probably will announce in July what the rate increase will be for 2009. He said it will not reach $50 per month.
The expansion allows the plant to treat 2 million gallons per day normal flow and up to 7 million gallons per day at peak periods. Before the expansion, the plant could handle 1.1 million per day normally and 2.6 million per day at peak times.
"We're able to treat some of the high flows with storm events," Eby said. "We can treat 100 percent of the raw wastewater. That means a lot to the area."
The county already paid $75,000 in penalties to Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA because of retention basin overflows during wet weather conditions.
"We tried, basically, to give them a system capable of serving present needs and future needs within reason, and for a wide variety of flow conditions," said Dale Kocarek, project manager with Stantec Consultants, of Columbus. And, we made it a priority for us to keep the cost of the project to an affordable minimum."
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