COLUMBIANA COUNTY Funds will flow for water plant to serve the southern region

Water rates have been raised once to help pay for the project.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
WELLSVILLE -- If all goes as planned, ground will be broken in the spring for a nearly $21 million project to improve the water supply for the southern part of Columbiana County.
Officials for the Buckeye Water District, an independent governmental agency, are expected to close on a federal loan and grant later this month to help pay for a new water plant and related facilities, Al DeAngelis Jr., water district manager, said Monday.
The district is seeking funding help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development program. The federal agency has tentatively proposed a package that would provide an $8 million loan and a $6 million grant.
DeAngelis said the water district is trying to persuade the department of agriculture to increase the amount of aid.
Any difference between what the federal agency provides and the $21 million project cost probably will be made up with a loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, DeAngelis said.
Higher rates
To pay off the debt, the district will rely largely on fees from its nearly 3,700 residential and business customers.
The water district passed a measure in September that raises water rates this month.
The average residential water bill was $30 per month. It has increased to about $36 monthly, DeAngelis said.
The district board also intends to raise the rates by 8 percent in each of the next four years, if necessary, to pay for the construction project, he added.
In 2002, the district brought in about $1.4 million in revenues from water rates.
District officials hope construction can begin in May or June on an $11 million pump station that will be built near state Route 45 in Wellsville.
The station will draw water from the Ohio River. It now takes its water from a reservoir in Yellow Creek Township.
The river water will be shipped north to a $9.3 million treatment plant to be constructed beginning next summer along state Route 45 in Yellow Creek Township.
It's expected to take about 14 months to build the pump station and about 19 months to construct the treatment plant, DeAngelis said.
About $700,000 will be spent to build administrative and service offices near the water treatment plant.
The structure will replace a cramped facility on Clark Avenue in Wellsville, DeAngelis said. Construction will start early in 2004 and take about eight months.
A new pump station and treatment plant are needed to meet an Ohio EPA order for the district to update its water treatment process, district officials have said.
leigh@vindy.com