Stimulus lets area quench its thirst

Water project to help Petersburg residents

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

PETERSBURG — When residents turn on the kitchen or bathroom faucet, what pours out is often orange — full of iron and laced with bacteria.

But a project to extend waterlines to the community is expected to provide relief.

Walter McKinney, who’s lived on East Garfield Road for about 14 years, estimates that he spends at least $30 per month on salt for his water softener.

“The water here is extremely hard,” McKinney said.

Petersburg residents get their water from wells, and many worry about its safety because of bacteria. It’s also high in iron and turns clothing orange, residents said.

It’s not safe to drink, McKinney said.

Most people opt for bottled water.

“About one-third of the wells have methane gas,” said Robert Orr, Springfield Township trustee chairman. Petersburg is part of the township.

The roughly $1.8 million waterline project — paid for with about $800,000 in federal stimulus funds — will extend from Unity Road to Garfield Road and into the community, providing water to residents and businesses.

“About 240 people live there,” Orr said.

The stimulus money is the last funding piece to bring the long-sought-after project to fruition.

East Fairfield Coal donated $100,000 toward the project in 2007, and that money funded engineering work. Aqua Ohio invested about $480,000 to extend the lines. The company also waived the tap-in fee that would have cost each resident about $1,300.

An additional $217,000 toward the project came through a Community Development Block Grant administered by the Mahoning County commissioners.

County officials opened bids for the project last week, and Rudzik Excavating Inc. of Struthers was the lowest bidder at $1,159,212.

It’s also the latest improvement project in the community. Last year, Dominion East Ohio Gas installed a gas line. A sanitary sewer line has been completed, and the Ohio Department of Transportation District 4 is upgrading the state Routes 170 and 616 intersection and adding sidewalks.

“It’s going to be like a new town,” Orr said. “Since we’ve been investing in the community, people have started to invest in their homes. They’re taking more pride in ownership.”

McKinney believes the waterline be an improvement.

In the time he’s lived on Garfield, the water quality has gotten worse, he said.

McKinney and his family invested in a reverse osmosis system to use on drinking water.

“It takes out all of the impurities,” he said. “It’s expensive to maintain. We only use it for drinking water.”

That’s on top of the water softener they use and the salt required to operate it.

“The biggest concern is what’s unseen, all of the bacteria that you can’t see or smell.”

He believes the planned waterline will not only improve the water but likely save him some money, too. He expects he’ll still need his water softener but not to the extent he uses it now.

Dan Burtner has lived in his Garfield Road home for about 10 years.

About two years ago, he installed a new well to tap into the water table deeper into the ground. He still uses a water softener and a sulfur filter.

“My water now isn’t too bad,” Burtner said.

Many wells in Petersburg, though, are contaminated with sewage, he said.

Like McKinney, Burtner expects the waterline to improve water conditions, but he plans to maintain his water softener because he worries about the taste.

denise_dick@vindy.com