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Ohio approves funding for Warren treatment plant
Funds OK’d to treat wastewater in facility in Warren
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
State lawmakers approved $780,000 in spending Monday to cover operation costs at a wastewater-treatment plant at the former Warren Steel facility.
The increased appropriation – $222,000 in the current fiscal year and $558,000 in the next – was part of a larger request from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which sought the higher spending authority for site cleanups and other projects around the state.
The treatment plant at the former Copperweld site in Warren was abandoned in mid-January, when Warren Steel closed the facility.
According to documents, the treatment facility processed stormwater “into the series of polluted lagoons, before discharging the treated water into the Mahoning River.”
Allowing the treatment plant to remain idle “would create a high risk of overflow of untreated water from the lagoons into the Mahoning River,” according to documents.
The increased spending authority will enable the Ohio EPA to hire a certified operator to run the treatment plant, including covering electricity, chemical supplies, sludge disposal and other expenses, according to documents, which estimated “that the plant may need to continue in operation for a year or more.”
Heidi Griesmer, a spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA, said the move is unusual but necessary to protect the Mahoning River.
She added the agency would pursue reimbursement of the costs from the company.