Contingency water supply to be explored

Staff report

BOARDMAN

The Mahoning County Commissioners have approved a $30,000 agreement with MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown to prepare a contin-gency plan for the county’s water- supply system, which serves 1,500 customers in Jackson and Milton Townships.

The county’s water system gets its water from Meander Reservoir through the City of Youngstown’s distribution system, and does not have connections to any other public water system.

If Youngstown water service were to be disrupted, the county’s 550,000- gallon storage tank in Jackson Township and 225,000-gallon storage tank in Craig Beach could supply the county’s customers for two days if they were full, said Bill Coleman, office manager in the county sanitary engineer’s office.

Among the possible alternative water sources, if the usual supply were disrupted, would be the Lords-town and Newton Falls water supply systems, from which a connecting pipe might be extended to the Mahoning County system, Coleman said.

The study also would cover ways to prevent any possible contamination of the county system.

“With the growth of that water system, we need to make sure that we’re able to handle any emergencies or other failures of the system to continue to be able to provide for fire protection and also for the needs of the people,” Coleman told the commissioners Monday.

The Commissioners also entered into a $1,985 contract with Kreidler Construction Co. of Boardman for a study to determine the reasons for the deterioration of the brick facade of the county jail, which opened in 1996, and to determine repair methods and costs.