City looking at site as potential water source

CELINA - Officials are eyeing more than 16 acres of land north of state Route 703 for potential water wells to replace Grand Lake as the city's drinking water source.

If an adequate supply of water is located underneath the 16.43-acre property, the farmland and wooded area could be purchased for $750,000 from John J. Bertke and James F. Lampert, according to a draft commercial lease provided by city law director George Moore.

"We've identified some groundwater sources that we are investigating; (we're) going to be drilling some test wells that we believe is in the best interest of our community," Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel told the newspaper on Friday afternoon.

Celina's lake-supplied drinking water has been deemed safe for consumption by the EPA. However, finding a more stable, consistent underground source could mitigate issues such as treatment costs and blue-green algae blooms, Hazel explained.

City council members will gather at 7 p.m. Monday on the second floor of the city administration building for a special meeting to vote on legislation authorizing the commercial lease with an option to purchase the land north of Cisco Funeral Home and south of the RJ Corman Railroad tracks.

If approved, the city would initially pay $20,000 in rent to Bertke and Lampert to lease the land for a year, effective Jan. 1. The money would be appropriated from the water fund.

The city would be permitted to drill, construct and/or complete water wells on the property and install pumping equipment. It also would be granted ingress/egress rights.

The lease agreement includes an option for the city to purchase the property for $750,000 - $45,648 an acre - at any time during the one-year lease. If purchased, the city would be reimbursed $10,000, half the yearly rent.

The city's water treatment plant daily processes about 1.4 million gallons of water with a capacity of up to 3 million gallons a day. For the state Route 703 property to be deemed a viable and sustainable well site, the city would have to be able to pump 1,200 gallons per minute from the underground river, Hazel said.

The mayor said he believes the city could develop three well fields on the property, enough for reserve pumping.

If the city can switch to the underground source, the water would be treated at the current plant. The city would then designate Grand Lake as a back-up source if needed, Hazel said.

Until the size of potential wells is determined, officials cannot make an accurate estimate of the multi-million dollar project's cost, which would include installing new utility lines from the site to the treatment plant on South Sugar Street, Hazel explained.

The mayor said the city is poised to receive $1 million in grant funding through the Ohio Public Works Commission's capital improvement program to pay for well exploration, including engineering, drilling and testing and possible land purchases.

Water rates likely would remain the same due to savings from reduced treatment costs, Hazel said.

City officials hope to begin well testing in January; engineering already is earmarked in the budget, he said.

Any well dug by the city at the site would draw from a strong north-south flow that closely follows the ancient Teays River valley. Hazel confirmed that any water pumped from the state Route 703 property would come from south of the continental divide, which snakes its way through northern portions of Celina. The area to the north of the divide is in the Great Lakes watershed and carries restrictions.

The Great Lakes Compact heavily restricts diversions of water from the Great Lakes watershed. Groundwater cannot be drawn from the watershed unless it eventually is returned as treated effluent. Celina's sewage treatment plant lies south of the divide and its discharge flows away from the Great Lakes.

Several years ago, the city of Celina was ordered by the EPA to rebuild or update its water plant for environmental compliance. Trihalomethanes, a byproduct of organic material in the lake water and the chlorine used to treat it, remained at high levels.

In the past, city officials considered switching from drawing lake water to pumping water from underground wells. But because of the groundwater complications, they opted to upgrade the water treatment plant.

The city in 2008 added a $6 million water treatment facility - equipped with eight carbon tanks - that adds granular activated carbon filtration to the treatment process to stop the formation of THMs.