West Lafayette, Coshocton waterline project to benefit residents and businesses
West Lafayette Mayor Steve Bordenkircher said there are a number of benefits in connecting the village water system to the Coshocton system.
“Our water treatment plant is 20 years old,” Bordenkircher said. “We’ve been talking about this for about three years. In the southeast corner of the village, we had substandard piping and that has all been replaced. The pipe size was only four inches. It will provide better water – a lot cleaner, chlorinated, soft water. The cost for water increased about 10 percent each year just to maintain so this will make water bills about 30 percent cheaper in West Lafayette.”
He added that the infrastructure only produced one million gallons per day, so the village lost business opportunities because of this.
“Now we have 6.7 million gallons daily capacity,” Bordenkircher said. “Also, it was expensive and hard to find Class 2 operators to take care of the water treatment plant. Another benefit is that we don’t have that struggle anymore. There was a major concern for fires. With the pipe looping system there are several pathways that the water can follow from the source to the consumer which will improve fire protection. We will have outside fire hydrants every 500 feet all the way to Coshocton which will greatly improve fire protection there as well.”
Coshocton Mayor Mark Mills said connecting county infrastructures promotes more business.
“Where you have good infrastructure, development follows and that’s where we all truly win,” he said. “Good infrastructure is important not only for faster economic growth but also benefits growth for the majority of people in the county. It adds customers and creates extra revenue for our water system. Anything having to do with infrastructure is the pass to progress.”
The city of Coshocton took on the West Lafayette Water System at the end of January. The switch over was Saturday morning Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. After the distribution call to deactivate, Max Crown, Coshocton’s safety service director and retired utilities director Dave McVay switched and deactivated the village of West Lafayette’s water system at that time.
This project came about in three stages, the first being the main line from West Lafayette to Coshocton, about 3,000 feet of pipe in the ground. The second stage replaced main lines in West Lafayette and put interior pipes in the village. The third and final stage was installation of water meters. Coshocton received $500,000 in H2Ohio funding to build a new water line to connect West Lafayette to Coshocton’s water system. The project consists of a booster station and a drinking water line connecting West Lafayette to Coshocton’s water system. This replaces West Lafayette’s water treatment plant that was jeopardized by ground water contamination. H2Ohio funds made the project more affordable along with grants from the Community Development Block Grant and Appalachian Regional Commission. Ohio EPA’s state revolving loan fund provided $3 million in principle forgiveness with the balance covered by no-interest loan funds.
For any water main breaks or emergencies residents can call 740-622-1577. West Lafayette will continue their own sewer service, however. The Chestnut Street booster station will be ready mid-February.
Category: Government
