A sewage and water update

The Erie County department of environmental services is a county government-operated public utility service provider, offering services in sewer and wastewater treatment, water distribution, landfill, billing and solid waste. Here are some highlights from 2021: • Wastewater collections: Our sewer system is composed of 171 miles of gravity sewer lines. About 150,000 feet of sewers were cleaned in 2021. This is comparable to 416 football fields. And over 107,000 feet of sewers were televised for possible cracks or leaks, comparable to 298 football fields. We also completed a force main sewer installation from the Mitiwanga wastewater treatment plant to the city of Huron. • Wastewater treatment: More than 633 million gallons of wastewater were treated — this is equivalent to 960 Olympic-size swimming pools — along with about 3.5 million gallons of sewage sludge and about 16 million gallons of septic and leachate being processed. We also completed a $650,000 centrifuge project, a project that started out as a $2.1 million proposal. The centrifuge allows us to process sewage sludge in-house, a procedure that used to cost the county between $160,000 and $180,000 per year. This not only saves around $125,000 per year, but it also allows the treatment plant to remain in Ohio EPA compliance, which was sometimes challenging when third parties' schedules were involved. • Water: Our water system is comprised of 372 miles of water distribution main lines. Over 2.2 billion gallons of water were purchased from suppliers. This is equivalent to 3,468 Olympic-sized swimming pools. A booster station was installed on the east side of Huron to aid with lower water pressures. We fixed over 148 water main breaks and in total, we serviced about 11,000 customers. • Landfill: Over 328 million pounds of solid waste was disposed of at the county landfill, all crammed into a space that is equivalent to 35 Olympic-sized swimming pools. About 359 million cubic feet of methane was also captured and destructed. This is enough gas to fill 1,207 Goodyear blimps. We also installed four new gas wells to increase methane extraction efficiency. • Billing: An online payment option has been made available to our customers, which makes it very convenient to pay your bill. • Solid waste: About 11 tons of tires were collected and recycled, and five gallons of mercury were collected at the household hazardous waste collection event. These events prevent the unlawful disposal of these items. Some of our 2022 projects include: • Wastewater collections: We will be conducting sewer lining projects in Perkins Township. The project's focus is to rehabilitate aging sections of clay sewer pipe that have been found to leak considerably, which have contributed to the county's inflow and infiltration problems that are being addressed under USEPA's orders. • Wastewater treatment: We are finalizing the abandonment and demolition of the Mitiwanga wastewater treatment plant, a plant built over 50 years ago that periodically discharges poor water quality due to a lack of treatment capacity. All sewage will now be conveyed to the Huron Basin wastewater treatment plant to be treated. • Water: We will be completing the Ohio 101 and Homegardner Road water main replacement project, eliminating costly repairs and water shortages created by the problem-prone sections of pipe from the system. The Berlin Heights water tower will also receive repairs and repainting. • Landfill: We are updating the vehicle weight scale software. The new system will feature a chip reader payment option as well as a slight reduction in third-party service fees that are passed onto the customer upon using a credit or debit card. John Rufo Environmental specialist, Erie County department of environmental services If you want to submit a Local Voices column, please email it to brandonaddeo@tandemnetwork.com. Columns should be 500-750 words and include the writer's headshot, or other photo.