County to reapply for grant

CELINA - Mercer and Auglaize county commissioners on Tuesday took steps to secure funding to help fix the most polluted waterway entering Grand Lake - Coldwater Creek.

The six commissioners - who jointly head the state-sanctioned Lake Facilities Authority - agreed that Mercer County would reapply for a $415,000 Clean Ohio Conservation Fund grant it failed to secure this spring to purchase land south of Celina for a proposed treatment train.

"We applied for this in April but didn't get it," Abbey Tobe of the county's soil and water agency told the six commissioners during an LFA meeting in Celina.

About $1.8 million in Clean Ohio grants is available, compared with about $900,000 earlier this year, she said.

"We have a good chance this time with that much available," Tobe added.

Mercer County will apply for the grant on behalf of the LFA because the LFA hasn't yet received a required subdivision code from the state. If the grant is awarded, the county will use the funds to buy the 40 acres of land and later deed the property to the LFA, county economic development director Jared Ebbing explained.

"Today we're seeking a letter of support from the LFA to apply for the grant," Ebbing told commissioners, who unanimously approved the idea.

Mercer County Commissioners also on Tuesday approved an intergovernmental agreement with the LFA to contract with engineering firm KCI for the estimated $2.5 million Coldwater Creek treatment train. Ebbing said the county's "history" with KCI will simplify the contract and maintain consistency.

The LFA in about two weeks should receive a $2.1 million grant that Ohio Department of Natural Resources earmarked for the treatment train in last year's state budget, Ebbing said. The LFA will use a portion of the ODNR dollars to reimburse Mercer County for the estimated $250,000 it expects to pay KCI, he added.

Auglaize County Commissioner Doug Spencer questioned the limits of the ODNR funds.

"Are there restrictions on the money?" he asked.

"No," replied Ebbing, adding leftover funds could be used to complete work at Prairie Creek or pay for future treatment train projects.

The Prairie Creek project in Franklin Township is the first of its kind in Ohio and was completed last year. It draws about 1.3 million gallons of water daily from the nearby creek or the lake when the creek level is low. The water is treated with alum to deactivate phosphorous then directed through retention ponds, manmade wetland cells and a natural wetlands with lily pads and other foliage to filter sediment before entering Grand Lake.

The proposed Coldwater Creek treatment train would be built on land owned by Rick Uppenkamp, south of Coldwater Creek and west of Johnston Road. About 8 million gallons of water per day would be pumped from the creek and directed through various filtering basins and cells to nearby Grassy Creek before flowing into the lake, Ebbing said.

"The outcome would be crystal clear water going into Grassy Creek," he said.

Another section of the treatment train would be built where Coldwater Creek flows into the lake. About 250 acres jutting out from the shoreline - from the southern tip of West Bank Road south to the county wildlife refuge - would be dredged and transformed into a littoral wetland restoration zone, Ebbing said.

The nearly oval-shaped area would be filled with various types of plant life such as lily pads that would act as filters, he said.

The overall project is very similar to the design at Prairie Creek but in a much bigger format, Ebbing said.

"Prairie Creek is nice and it's evidence this works and we needed that to continue on. But this is going to make Prairie Creek look small. This is a big one ... this is the big league," he said.

Coldwater Creek has been identified by EPA officials as the most polluted of all tributaries entering Grand Lake. Phosphorous - mainly from manure runoff in farm fields - feeds the lake's toxic blue-green algae.

In January 2011, the state designated the Grand Lake Watershed distressed after humans and animals were sickened by toxins in the water the previous year.

Coldwater Creek is considered the biggest loader of phosphorous into the lake, although its 12,390-acre watershed is the second largest of the tributaries/creeks entering the manmade waterway. The largest watershed linked to the lake is Beaver Creek, 12,935 acres, followed by Coldwater Creek, Big Chickasaw, 11,919 acres; Prairie Creek, 7,675 acres; and Little Chickasaw, 2,889 acres.

Treatment trains also are being planned for Beaver Creek, between Guadalupe Road and Montezuma, and for the Big Chickasaw near Hecht's Landing.

The four targeted areas are responsible for about 80 percent of the phosphorous loading in the lake, Ebbing noted.