CLEAR FORK VALLEY – The plan to build a new wastewater treatment plant, used by Butler and Bellville, is moving forward. Contracts have been awarded to two firms, according to officials in Butler and Bellville.
Underground Utilities has been awarded the contract to do the underground pipework. Mack Industries will do construction of the plant.
The plan is to have the facility fully operational by next December, according to area officials.
The project is to cost $13.5 million dollars, with $6 million going for pipework and $7 million for the plant.
Joe Stallard, Butler mayor, said the plan is to have a pre-construction meeting this month..
Many details of the project, which will build a regional treatment plant, have not been finalized.
The Clear Fork Valley School District has been participating in plans to allow them to hookup to the line, serving the facility. The plant is to be located in the area between the villages, near the Clear Fork Mobile Home Park.
In January, Brian McCartney, of K.E. McCartney and Associates, said this is a “very important project for the entire Clear Fork Valley ecosystem.”
The new plant will replace four treatment facilities that are currently polluting the Clear Fork River valley, said McCartney. This will also make them “into one highly efficient and technologically advanced regional wastewater treatment plant.”
Also, the new regional plant will replace the treatment facility in Bellville, which has had “long standing odor issues,” he said. It also will resolve Environmental Protection Agency findings and orders filed against the Butler facility, he said.
K. E. McCartney is the engineer for the project.
McCartney said it is one of the first wastewater treatment plants in Ohio to be funded by the Ohio EPA, which encourages regional facilities.
Officials have worked to obtain grant money to fund the work. A total of $7.35 million for the project has been approved for a 30-year, interest free loan from the Ohio EPA.
The site is going to be where a barn owned by the Flockerzie family was located. That barn has been demolished, but an embankment along State Route 97 will hide the facility from view, McCartney said.
