County eyes sewer system near Carthagena

CELINA - Mercer County commissioners this week agreed to take out a state loan to pursue preliminary work toward creating a new sewer system in the Grand Lake watershed.

County officials are considering creating a central sewer system in Carthagena for about 88 homes using septic tanks. If the system is created, the collected sewage would be pumped north to the Montezuma Club Island wastewater treatment plant. No cost estimate is yet available.

Commissioners approved the $224,250 Water Pollution Control loan to pay for engineering services, contingency costs and a prior Ohio Water Development Authority study to determine the feasibility of a sewage system involving St. Rose, Cassella and Carthagena.

The OEPA-backed loan bears an interest rate of 0.76 percent for five years. The county will pay an additional $4,713 in interest. However, if the county proceeds with the project, the loan would likely be rolled into a 30-year construction loan, Mercer County Community Development Director Jared Ebbing said on Wednesday afternoon.

Ebbing said Access Engineering Solutions of Celina was awarded a $145,000 contract for design services. Their work should be finished sometime next year.

"This project will design sanitary sewers for numerous clusters of houses in unincorporated areas of Marion Township in Mercer County," the loan fund document states. "Most of the houses in the proposed service area utilize on-site wastewater treatment systems (septic systems) regulated by the Mercer County Health Department. This design will incorporate central sewer systems to transport waste to an existing (wastewater treatment plant) and eliminate discharges from failed or inadequate onsite disposal systems into streams that flow into Grand Lake St. Marys."

Engineering Access will determine, among other things, the potential project's cost and the lowest spot in the Carthagena area to install a lift station to pump the sewage north to Club Island. Furthermore, if the project is deemed practical, county officials would pursue grants and other funding sources for construction, Ebbing said.

Project construction, if green-lighted, could begin in early 2018, he said.

Officials will also use $72,000 from the loan to pay for the earlier OWDA study in St. Rose, Cassella and Carthagena. Commissioners in 2010 agreed to pay $71,600 to Fanning/Howey Associates of Celina to complete the study, including determining where sewer lines might be placed, cost feasibility and which treatment plant to use. Treatment facilities are located in Chickasaw and at Club Island.

The OEPA in recent years has pushed communities across the state to create central sewage systems to replace failing household systems that subsequently pollute area waterways such as Grand Lake.

The Marion Community is considered one of the county's most populous areas lacking a central sewer, EPA has noted in the past.