$14 million in Ohio BUILDS Grants Awarded in Southeast Ohio

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced on December 7 that more than $109 million will be awarded to help fund critical water projects in all of Ohio’s 88 counties as part of the third round of grants awarded through the new Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grant program.

The $109 million in third-round funding will go toward supporting 101 drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects impacting 106 communities. In total, approximately $250 million in Ohio BUILDS grant funding is going toward 183 critical water infrastructure projects across the state.

“Clean drinking water is part of the foundation for a good quality of life, yet too many communities in Ohio can’t reliably provide residents with this basic necessity due to crumbling infrastructure has been too expensive to fix,” said Governor DeWine. “My administration is committed to helping our communities address these important water issues, and we look forward to additional conversations with the Ohio General Assembly about the potential of expanding this program with additional funds.”

The Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grant program, announced by Governor DeWine in October, was funded by the Ohio General Assembly as part of House Bill 168, sponsored by State Representatives Mark Fraizer (R-Newark) and Mike Loychik (R-Bazetta), with funding that was appropriated through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Since applications for the program opened in late July, the Ohio Department of Development received more than 1,200 grant applications requesting nearly $1.4 billion in funding.

“As evidenced in the number of applications submitted, the need for these projects is great,” said Lydia Mihalik, director of Development. “We are committed to working with the Ohio legislature to fund additional projects through the program.”

“Congratulations are in order for the southeast Ohio counties and communities that received funding as part of Gov. DeWine’s announcement of Ohio BUILDS Water Infrastructure Grants,” said Buckeye Hill Regional Council Executive Director Misty Crosby. “These nine projects represent more than $14 million in additional water infrastructure investments in our region. Combined with the projects announced in the first two rounds, our region will see more than $32 million invested in 16 projects to establish or improve drinking water and wastewater service. I’m grateful to the Buckeye Hills development team that provided guidance and technical support for many of the projects on this list. They worked with many of our communities on these projects, whether it be applying for ARC, OPWC, CDBG in the past or discussing these projects with local leaders. I’m also grateful to our members and our partner LDDs who sent letters and supported our advocacy to ensure all communities could compete for this funding, the Ohio Department of Development for being responsive to our feedback on the program design, and to our state legislators for their support of these investments.”

Projects awarded as part of Round 3 in the Buckeye Hills region include:

• Burr Oak Regional Water District (Athens County) will receive a $4.91 million grant to add Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) to the water treatment process.

• Le-Ax Water District (Athens County) will receive a $345,500 grant to replace a below-ground pump station that has been in service for 50 years.

• Laurelville (Hocking County) will receive a $1.35 million grant to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant to enable it to comply with the village’s ammonia effluent discharge limits.

• Syracuse (Meigs County) will receive a $474,100 grant to install 4,350 linear feet of PVC pipe, 22 new valves, 800 feet of new service lines with 43 new service connections, and a chemical feed upgrade which will replace old piping that has inadequate water pressure for home use and fire protection.

• Ohio & Lee Water and Sewer Authority (Monroe County) will receive a $3.2 million grant to provide a decentralized sanitary sewer system for approximately 82 residential and commercial connections throughout the unincorporated area of Duffy, which has experienced high coliform levels.

• Morgan Meigsville Rural Water District (Morgan County) will receive a $70,000 grant to design a project to extend the water distribution system to serve a corridor extending 1.3 miles along State Route 60, just north of the village of McConnelsville.

• Caldwell (Noble County) will receive a $3.7 million grant to replace 3,400 linear feet of sanitary sewer and install 4,500 linear feet of sewer, and 8,600 linear feet of storm sewer.

• Shawnee (Perry County) will receive a $25,000 grant to replace bladder tanks in the village’s booster pump station that provides potable water to residents located on New England Hill Road and Manley Hill Road.

• Matamoras (Washington County) will receive a $420,000 grant to improve two lift stations. The first project will add a permanent backup generator on an elevated platform and pump, guide rail, electrical, and valve vault improvements to the Collins Run Lift Station.

Projects awarded in Rounds 1 and 2 in the Buckeye Hills region include:

• Tuppers Plains-Chester (Athens County, House District 94- Rep. Jay Edwards, Senate District 30- Senator Frank Hoagland) will receive a $90,000 grant for the planning and engineering design of a project that will extend a water line on South Rodehaver Road and Young Road.

• Logan (Hocking County, House District 78- Rep. Brian Stewart, Senate District 20- Senator Tim Schaffer) will receive a $250,000 grant to cover the planning and engineering design for a project that will replace 20,000 linear feet of sewer line, 1700 linear feet of storm sewer lines, 68 manholes, add 300 service connections, and five new catch basins.

• Syracuse Racine Regional Sewer District (Meigs County, House District 94- Rep. Jay Edwards, Senate District 30- Senator Frank Hoagland) will receive a $1.4 million grant to install a headworks-screening system to eliminate debris clogging up the sewer system.

• Barnesville (Belmont, Guernsey, Monroe, and Noble counties, House District 95- Rep. Don Jones, Senate District 30- Sen. Frank Hoagland)) will receive $2.257 million to replace approximately 25,000 linear feet of waterline and construct a new pump station. The new raw water main will replace an asbestos 12-inch line installed in 1963, which provides raw water from the Slope Creek Reservoir to the Barnesville Water Treatment Plant.

• Burr Oak Regional Water District (Morgan County, House District 78- Rep. Brian Stewart, Senate District 20- Senator Tim Schaffer) will receive a $1.9 million grant for an expansion project to address an area in Morgan County with contaminated and inadequate water supplies.

• Crooksville (Perry County, House District 72- Rep. Kevin Miller, Senate District 31- Senator Jay Hottinger) will receive a $1.87 million grant to replace two main critical lift stations within the village’s sanitary sewer system that provide basic sanitary sewer service to area residents.

• Washington County Board of Commissioners (House District 95- Rep. Don Jones, Senate District 30 -Senator Frank Hoagland) will receive a $10 million grant for the Devola Sanitary Sewer Improvements Phase II project.

Governor DeWine created the Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grant program to reduce or eliminate the local financial burden associated with critical infrastructure needs, such as the construction of new water systems, the replacement of aging water lines, and the installation new water mains. Grants are also funding projects to prevent sewer system backups and replace failing household sewage treatment systems with new sewers.

The Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grants are a continuation of Governor DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative, which launched in 2019 to focus on ensuring plentiful, clean, and safe water for communities across the state. H2Ohio focuses on strategies to reduce algal blooms on Lake Erie and other bodies of water but has also awarded $15 million in grants for water infrastructure projects.

“Many Ohio communities need this assistance to help their water and wastewater infrastructure projects move forward,” said Ohio EPA Director Laurie A. Stevenson. “The grants announced today will make a difference in our communities and in the lives of Ohioans.”

In addition to water infrastructure, Ohio BUILDS (Broadband, Utilities, and Infrastructure for Local Development Success) also focuses on supporting other targeted solutions that impact quality of life, such as broadband expansion, brownfield redevelopment, the demolition of blighted buildings, and more.