Board OKs bid for treatment train work

CELINA - The Lake Facilities Authority Board of Directors on Tuesday accepted a bid of $1.79 million from VTF Excavation of Celina to begin work on the Coldwater Creek treatment train project.

"This is huge," said Milt Miller, director of the Lake Restoration Commission. "This is a very, very big deal."

The project would be considered the biggest in the state and will operate much like the one at Prairie Creek. It will divert about 4 million gallons of water a day from the creek though a series of manmade wetlands to filter out sediment and nutrients before the water flows into Grand Lake.

The project entails creating wetlands and filtering bays on 300 acres, Miller said. It will begin in the area south of Coldwater Creek and have an extension east of U.S. 127, according to Miller. It includes 250 acres from the shoreline at the southern tip of West Bank Road, south to the county wildlife refuge. He wants to plant lily pads and other vegetation in the area.

Work could begin in October and be finished by May, he said. This treatment train will filter the water, then release it into Grassy Creek before it enters the lake.

Treatment trains are critical to the lake's health, Miller said, as demonstrated by the Prairie Creek treatment train. Phosphorous has been reduced by 70 percent and tests show dissolved reactive phosphorous is being reduced by 52.2 percent, he said. Prairie Creek filters about 1.3 million gallons of water daily from the nearby creek or the lake when the creek level is low or it is not flowing.

Treatment trains are designed to reduce the amount of phosphorous and other nutrients entering the lake, which has been under a water advisory for the past six summers due to unsafe levels of toxins produced by blue-green algae. The phosphorous comes mainly from manure runoff from farm fields and feeds the algae.

Coldwater Creek is considered the most polluted of Grand Lake's tributaries.

County officials also want to create treatment trains on Beaver Creek between Guadalupe Road and the village of Montezuma and on the Big Chickasaw and Little Chickasaw creeks.

The overall Coldwater Creek project is estimated to cost $2.5 million including land purchase, engineering and other expenses.

Three bids were received in June by the commissioners of Mercer and Auglaize counties, who sit on the LFA board. The bids were opened July 2 and Access Engineering Solutions recommended VTF as the lowest and best bid. Bruns Building & Development of St. Henry submitted a bid of $2,029,480 and Jutte Excavating of Fort Recovery submitted a bid of $1,802,250.

The land, which is located near the intersection of Coldwater Creek and Johnston roads, was purchased from Rick Uppenkamp of Maria Stein for $538,000.

Funding for the Coldwater Creek plan includes $2.1 million from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, $415,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission grant and $145,000 Uppenkamp donated.