Summit County officials say they’re hoping to get $5 million in funding they need for a sewer system in Peninsula in the next federal budget.
The county has already earmarked $7.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to move Peninsula from septic systems to a centralized wastewater management system, but the initial cost estimate came in at $10 million, according to officials. The county has also obtained a $500,000 grant from H2Ohio for the project, according to officials.
The federal money would bridge the funding gap for the project, Director of Sanitary Sewer Systems Michael Vinay said, but he’s not counting his chickens before they hatch.
“We’re still hitting the pavement as far as securing some funding and closing that gap," he said, "but ultimately our goal is to break ground in 2026.”
Sampling by Summit County Public Health and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency have found elevated levels of E. coli are being discharged from the village’s storm sewers into the Cuyahoga River.
The village of less than 600 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, would not be able to fix this problem without the county's help, Summit County Executive Office's Assistant Chief of Staff and Public Information Officer Greta Johnson said.
"Peninsula could not sustain EPA fines," she said. "It could have bankrupted that community."
Officials are working to complete the project without residents footing any costs, Vinay said. And they are making progress, he said.
The project design is 90% done, he said.
"We have been in discussion with the Ohio EPA on both getting the wastewater treatment plant permitted - that's in process now - and subsequent to 100% design we will submit the plans for a permit to install from the Ohio EPA as well," he said. "Both of those can take six to eight months for review."
And after decades of not being able to fund the project (studies for it date back to 2004, according to Environmental Design Group, a contractor working on the project), the Ohio EPA is happy something is finally being done, Vinay said.
"They understand these projects take awhile to design and construct," he said. "This is the first wastewater treatment plant we've constructed in probably 40 or 50 years."
