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Youngstown officials seek guidance, state funds to alleviate sewage into Mill Creek
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A delegation from Youngstown was in Ohio’s capital city Friday, meeting with the heads of a handful of state agencies with hopes of finding funding for sewer-system upgrades, including improvements aimed at alleviating elevated bacteria levels at Mill Creek MetroParks.
Lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier have been closed to recreational users since county health officials identified E. coli concentrations in the water, attributed, in part, to overflows from the Youngstown sewer system, which handles sewage and stormwater. Heavy rains cause overflows, which spill over into places such as Mill Creek.
Fertilizer, failing septic systems and other runoff likely are contributing to the bacteria issue, too.
Youngstown Law Director Martin Hume said the city has a long-term plan for dealing with the issue, with $147 million in projects outlined over a 20-year period.
The third phase of the project, not scheduled to start for about 15 years, focuses on Mill Creek, with new infrastructure that would direct rain overflows to the Mahoning River.
Though Mill Creek is a pressing concern at the moment, Youngstown officials traveled to Columbus on Friday with hopes of identifying state or federal support for the entire 20-year plan. They said they would start the Mill Creek portion sooner if they can find the $48 million it’ll cost for that phase.
“The primary purpose of this meeting was for the city to learn about existing funding sources to help to finance the entirety of the plan,” Hume said.
Friday’s session included comments from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Public Works Commission, the Ohio Water Development Authority and others who administer grant and no- or low-interest loan programs for sewer-system improvements and comparable infrastructure projects.
“We wanted you to have a comprehensive look at what’s available to you, because this is like solving a puzzle,” said Pejmaan Fallah, an outreach coordinator at Ohio EPA.
There were no firm commitments for funding Friday, and Hume acknowledged the amount of grants available for the project likely would be limited.
He added that city officials already have started the application process, and it was helpful to talk to the various state agencies around the same table.
“Part of it is just learning the process of who to contact, what the forms look like, who to send them to, what are the deadlines,” he said. “We’ll take back that information and share it with the city officials.”