Wastewater Treatment Phase I Online

Friday the June 13th, the pumps and headworks, which is phase one of the sewer plant upgrade, was brought online. It has worked for the last week and there have been no problems. Phase one will still continue throughout the next few weeks. The Engineer, Floyde Browne, has made a preliminary punch list. The contractor, Sunesis, will be wrapping the project up. I encourage the community to contact the office and take a tour of the Lynchburg water and sewer utilities. The utilities we operate are important to improve the quality of life within the community,improve property value, improve health; and the operations are regulated by the EPA, as well as many quality controls the certified operators maintain. Lynchburg has two licensed operators. Rick Ludwick and Mark Suitor, both have the proper certifications for water and wastewater (Sewer).
The wastwater plant, phase two will be fast tracked due to the money that Lynchburg will receive through stimulus funding process. The PTI, permit to install, has been approved by the Ohio EPA. In August, Lynchburg will be applying for additional 0% loans for the remaining balance. These loans will be through DEFA, which is the funding branch of the EPA. DEFA, will also be on sight throughout Phase II to assist Lynchurg, and make sure the project is being done properly. DEFA does this when the loan money, and when certain government grants are obtained. The balance of Phase II will be around one million dollars, after the 2.1 in grant money Lynchburg has received. It is imperative that the Council come up with a way that this will be paid back before the project is complete, or it will be added to the utility invoice in 2010. I do want to remind everyone that the sewer plant upgrade is mandated by EPA, this started in 1997, Lynchburg is under Findings and Orders (which is a legal binding document specifying environmental hazards caused by the current plant), the plant was overflowing and polluting the watershed, the plant was outdated, Lynchburg was fined, and this is a very important problem that deserves attention.