By Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com Reporter
MOUNT VERNON — Jeff Pickrell, water/wastewater superintendent, told County Commissioners Teresa Bemiller and Roger Reed on Tuesday that things look good for the county to receive a riverbank stabilization grant.
Officials representing the Ohio Public Works Commission visited the site on Friday. The riverbank needing stabilized is near the Howard well field. Erosion has changed the course of the river so that it now is within 50 feet of Well No. 5 and 150 feet of Well No. 3. The goal of the stabilization project is to stop further erosion into the well field.
David Heithaus, director of green initiatives at Kenyon College, is one of the OPWC officials who reviewed the site. Heithaus is a Gambier resident, kayaker and outdoorsman.
“I think that’s a positive note for us because he will be able to see that the river has eroded over the years,” Pickrell told the commissioners.
OPWC received four grant applications totaling $1.5 million; $1.2 million is available. “The good news is … they like our project very much. Other projects had land acquisition; ours does not,” said Pickrell, adding that OPWC has not done a stabilization project for a number of years. “They will meet within the next week or so to do the scoring [of the projects].”
The OPWC Nature Works grant would cover 45 percent of the project’s cost. Pickrell plans to apply for a Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District grant to cover the remaining amount.
Pickrell said he is in the process of getting approval for sludge disposal on 400 acres on Pipesville Road. The county is contracted through this year with Burch Hydro.
The water/wastewater department continues to work on finding and fixing water breaks. Pickrell said six have been found and fixed in the last five days.