The Licking Regional Water District is awaiting feedback from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a proposed wastewater treatment facility following a public hearing on Jan. 23 and a Jan. 30 deadline for written comments.
The proposed facility, which was first permitted in 2019 but has yet to be built, would be located near State Route 310 and aims to address the region's wastewater needs as development intensifies due to the arrival of Intel and other tech companies.
“The hearing was held, and people had the opportunity to speak whatever their opinions were on the project,” Licking Regional Water District Executive Director James Roberts told the Mount Vernon News. “Then there was a period for a week after the hearing where people could submit written comments to the EPA as well. And so right now, everybody's just waiting for EPA to assimilate the comments and address them.”
Roberts is hopeful about the project’s future.
“Permit renewals typically are approved,” he said. “It was a permit that was already previously approved. So barring some sort of new information or surprise, it would seem likely that it would go through. But we won't know that for sure until the EPA deals with all the comments.”
Roberts’ comments come months after a November meeting in which local residents and environmentalists questioned the plan to discharge treated wastewater into Pet Run, a small river that feeds into Raccoon Creek which provides water to wells used by the communities of Alexandria and Granville.
Despite concerns from local residents about potential environmental impacts, Roberts emphasized the necessity of such projects.
“I know the concept of wastewater plants doesn’t have great optics to it, but the alternative would be like a whole bunch of septic systems or private sewer systems,” he said. “And those are certainly much more damaging to the environment than a wastewater plant that's designed and constructed to clean the water before it's discharged.”
Roberts said the Licking Regional Water District is committed to meeting EPA standards.
“We’re committed to doing quality work, and we’ll always meet or exceed the requirements of our EPA to make sure that our plants are not causing any problems that people were concerned about,” Roberts added.
The timeline for finalizing the permit remains unclear, as Roberts explained that the EPA process has specific timelines.
“It takes several months before something like this is completely finalized,” he said. “So it probably ends up being later on this year, towards the end of this year, would be my guess.”
Regarding the actual construction of the plant, Roberts noted that there is no timeline set and engineering work has not yet begun as the plant has not advanced past the planning stages.
