County, Wadsworth work on water compromise
New project planned to improve water pressure around Sharon Center
Medina County Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin hopes to work out a compromise with Wadsworth over a water project planned in Sharon Township. File photo
MEDINA – County officials are trying to work out a compromise with the City of Wadsworth over a complicated plan to provide better water service to areas of Sharon Township.
The Medina County Sanitary Engineer’s Department had developed a plan to extend water and sewer lines from state Route 18 to Sharon Center to improve service to the area and reduce the cost of treating wastewater.
However, the plan would mean a loss of customers for Wadsworth, which services part of Sharon Township through a 40-year-old agreement with the county. The compromise under consideration would allow Wadsworth to retain some of the customers it now services in Sharon and Wadsworth townships and reduce its loss in annual utility fees from about $600,000 to $355,000.
The change in service proposed by the county will impact residents of Sharon and Wadsworth townships as well as some customers in the City of Wadsworth. As a result, city and county officials plan to describe the county proposal as well as an alternative proposed by the city at a public meeting tentatively planned at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at Wadsworth City Hall.
The proposed county project can’t go forward until it gets approval from the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency which coordinates major transportation and utility projects in a five-county region. NOACA authority includes designating “facility planning areas” in the region and the borders of the affected FPA need to be modified by NOACA since part of the area covered by the county project is now considered part of the Wadsworth FPA.
NOACA staff turned down the county’s initial request for the modification of the FPA boundary and has encouraged county and city officials to work on a compromise plan that NOACA must approve before the project can move forward.
County commissioners and township trustees in Sharon and Wadsworth townships have already expressed their support for the original county plan for a $3.7 million project to extend a water line from the county-owned water system along state Route 18.
The water line would travel south down Ridge Road and replace an eight-inch water main serving Sharon Center with a 12-inch line that would be further extended east on state Route 162 to State Road where it would travel north back to Route 18.
Medina County Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin said the project would allow the county to decommission a small water system that now serves Sharon Center and improve the overall efficiency of the county water system.
The project would also enable the county to abandon a costly pump station that carries waste water south to be treated at the Wadsworth treatment plant. The new plan would allow wastewater from Sharon and parts of Wadsworth Township to be transported to an interceptor sewer on Route 18 where it would be transported to the county’s newly renovated Kenneth W. Hotz Water Reclamation Facility in Liverpool Township.
The modified sanitary sewer service would also result in a reduction of sewer rates for township customers. Those township customers tapping into the Wadsworth treatment plant pay now pay about $40.59 per month for sewer service. The county rate is about $30 per month.
The county would also see a savings in what it pays toward the treatment of waste water at the Wadsworth treatment plant. Lyon-Galvin estimated the county will reduce its costs by about $200,000 a year. That savings would help pay off the cost of construction of the proposed water and sewer lines and afford the county a rare opportunity to install the new lines without assessing property owners.
The Medina County Sanitary Engineer’s Department had developed a plan to extend water and sewer lines from state Route 18 to Sharon Center to improve service to the area and reduce the cost of treating wastewater.
However, the plan would mean a loss of customers for Wadsworth, which services part of Sharon Township through a 40-year-old agreement with the county. The compromise under consideration would allow Wadsworth to retain some of the customers it now services in Sharon and Wadsworth townships and reduce its loss in annual utility fees from about $600,000 to $355,000.
The change in service proposed by the county will impact residents of Sharon and Wadsworth townships as well as some customers in the City of Wadsworth. As a result, city and county officials plan to describe the county proposal as well as an alternative proposed by the city at a public meeting tentatively planned at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at Wadsworth City Hall.
The proposed county project can’t go forward until it gets approval from the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency which coordinates major transportation and utility projects in a five-county region. NOACA authority includes designating “facility planning areas” in the region and the borders of the affected FPA need to be modified by NOACA since part of the area covered by the county project is now considered part of the Wadsworth FPA.
NOACA staff turned down the county’s initial request for the modification of the FPA boundary and has encouraged county and city officials to work on a compromise plan that NOACA must approve before the project can move forward.
County commissioners and township trustees in Sharon and Wadsworth townships have already expressed their support for the original county plan for a $3.7 million project to extend a water line from the county-owned water system along state Route 18.
The water line would travel south down Ridge Road and replace an eight-inch water main serving Sharon Center with a 12-inch line that would be further extended east on state Route 162 to State Road where it would travel north back to Route 18.
Medina County Sanitary Engineer Amy Lyon-Galvin said the project would allow the county to decommission a small water system that now serves Sharon Center and improve the overall efficiency of the county water system.
The project would also enable the county to abandon a costly pump station that carries waste water south to be treated at the Wadsworth treatment plant. The new plan would allow wastewater from Sharon and parts of Wadsworth Township to be transported to an interceptor sewer on Route 18 where it would be transported to the county’s newly renovated Kenneth W. Hotz Water Reclamation Facility in Liverpool Township.
The modified sanitary sewer service would also result in a reduction of sewer rates for township customers. Those township customers tapping into the Wadsworth treatment plant pay now pay about $40.59 per month for sewer service. The county rate is about $30 per month.
The county would also see a savings in what it pays toward the treatment of waste water at the Wadsworth treatment plant. Lyon-Galvin estimated the county will reduce its costs by about $200,000 a year. That savings would help pay off the cost of construction of the proposed water and sewer lines and afford the county a rare opportunity to install the new lines without assessing property owners.
