Saturday, September 20, 2014
POLAND
Work soon will begin to replace a sanitary sewer in the Poland Municipal Forest under the path closest to Interstate 680.
“We’re going to put a liner under 680, and the rest of the project will be replaced with new pipe,” said Joe Desantis of the Mahoning County Engineer’s office.
The pipe first became an issue about two years ago when it burst.
The sewage leak contaminated Yellow Creek, according to Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Linda Oros.
Someone called the Ohio EPA’s spill hot line about a dead fish in the creek, which the agency, as well as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources wildlife division, followed up on, Oros said.
“When we investigated, that’s when we discovered that there was sewage leaking,” she said. “The Yellow Creek had very low flow and a strong odor of sewage. ... A crew was repairing a sewer line, and the sewage could be observed and detected near the area of the repair.”
Oros said the Ohio EPA did not take any further action at the time, except to make sure the site was cleaned up and the leak was fixed.
Now, the sanitary sewer is starting to fail, which is why the sanitary engineer’s office is replacing it, Desantis said.
The sewer runs through the upper west end of the trail near 680, and that section of the trail will have to be closed off during construction, Desantis said.
Work will start in four to six weeks, and should be complete by the end of the year, he said.
The sanitary engineer’s office awarded the $379,000 contract to J.S. Bova Excavating LLC of North Jackson.
“For the good of the forest and the community, we look forward to the project being completed by the engineers,” said Poland Forest Board President Elinor Zedaker.