Yearly Archives: 2015

Congressman Tim Ryan announces $119,552 for Shelter Care, Inc. in Tallmadge, Ohio. This grant will fund the Street Outreach Services program, which addresses the needs of runaway, homeless and street youth by providing outreach services to help young people leave the streets and transition to a safe living arrangement.

The State of Ohio has been working with the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), Kentucky and West Virginia to respond to reports of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) on the Ohio River

The City of Miamisburg is improving its drinking water softening process. Design of the project is being funded with a low-interest loan from Ohio EPA. When complete, the project will improve both public health and surface water quality by lowering the high amount of sodium in the drinking water and significantly reducing the amount of sodium discharged to the Great Miami River from the water treatment plant.

Shelby is planning essential improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant that will increase capacity and reduce sewage bypasses during wet weather. The city is funding the design phase of the project with a low-interest loan from Ohio EPA.

Homeowners in Lucas County can repair or replace septic systems with funding from Ohio EPA. Ohio EPA awarded a $300,000 loan to the county as part of the Ohio Department of Health’s Home Sewage Treatment Systems (HSTS) Repair/Replacement project for 2015.

The City of Celina will build a new water tower to replace an aging tank and increase potable water storage for the community. The project is being financed with an interest-free loan from Ohio EPA. The city is building a one-million gallon elevated water tower in the industrial park and demolishing an existing elevated storage tank that is deteriorated due to age.

Franklin County will begin design work – the pre-construction phase – this year in an upgrade of the Darbydale wastewater treatment plant to reduce nutrient discharges and improve water quality in Big Darby Creek, thanks to a zero-interest loan from Ohio EPA.

Columbus is eliminating incineration and increasing the beneficial reuse of biosolids at its Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant. With low-interest financing from Ohio EPA, the city will construct additional storage and handling facilities to manage all of the sludge generated through the wastewater treatment process and eliminate the need for incineration as one of the disposal options.

Karl Gebhardt, currently Ohio EPA’s Division of Surface Water (DSW) chief and deputy director for water resources, will focus his efforts solely on being the deputy director for water resources to complete two main tasks. One is to implement the binational agreement Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor recently signed with Michigan and Ontario to reduce nutrient levels going into Lake Erie by 40 percent. The other is coming up with a strategic plan on managing our dredge material to comply with the state’s recent commitment to not dispose of dredge material in Lake Erie.

Sales, prices and time to sell a home set records again during July 2015. The 3,208 home sales last month were up 1.9 percent over the previous month (June 2015) and up 11.7 percent from July of 2014. This also set a record high for any single month of home sales in any year according to the Columbus REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

On Wednesday, August 19, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) Board approved more than $8.2 million for affordable housing initiatives across the state of Ohio, including

The city of Akron will increase sewer capacity and construct a basin to capture sewer overflows while improving water quality Mud Run and the Little Cuyahoga River, thanks to a low-interest loan from Ohio EPA.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) heralded news today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest an additional $5,000,000 across Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to improve water quality in Lake Erie’s western basin.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today applauded news that Ohio has been awarded $1,260,095 in new federal resources by the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to promote conservation and outdoor recreation. Of the funds, $1,236,596 comes from the regular Fiscal Year 2014 apportionment awarded to the states and $23,499 is a supplemental apportionment as a result of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA).

Akron will construct a 6.5 million gallon wet weather overflow basin to add to the city’s wastewater treatment system. The project will help bring Akron into compliance and improve water quality in the Little Cuyahoga River. The improvements are being funded with a low-interest loan from Ohio EPA.

The Ohio Lake Erie Commission (OLEC) awarded three grants through Ohio’s Lake Erie Protection Fund at the commission’s June meeting at Heidelberg University in Tiffin. The fund was established to help finance research and projects aimed at protecting, preserving and restoring Lake Erie and its watershed.

Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH) issued the following statement regarding the Senate’s passage of H.R. 212, The Drinking Water Protection Act, legislation he first introduced in response to the water emergency in Toledo last August.

The U.S. Senate passed legislation introduced by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) to protect Ohio’s drinking water. The Drinking Water Protection Act will direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and report to Congress a strategic Algal Toxin Risk Assessment and Management Plan within 90 days. The Plan will evaluate the risk to human health from drinking water provided by public water systems contaminated with algal toxins and recommend feasible treatment options, including procedures and source water protection practices

Alliance Community Hospital and the Stark Development Board have received a covenant not to sue under Ohio EPA’s Voluntary Action Program (VAP) after investigating and remediating the former Alliance Community Hospital Property in Stark County.

On the one year anniversary of the Toledo water crisis, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) went to the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to drop their objections and pass his Drinking Water Protection Act. This legislation, which Portman authored with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), will direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and report to Congress a strategic Algal Toxin Risk Assessment and Management Plan within 90 days.