Wood County officials are preparing to spend about $1 million to eventually save money spent trucking
leachate from the county landfill.
The county commissioners heard an update Tuesday on the construction of a sewer line from the landfill to
the city of Bowling Green. The plans have been submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency,
the project is estimated to cost $1,076,794, and the construction is tentatively scheduled for late
November or early December. Construction will take approximately two months.
The cost estimate came in about a half million dollars less than originally planned, since the project
has been scaled down from its original scope of a six-inch to a four-inch line. When first introduced,
the county commissioners suggested that the project also require all the homeowners along the Poe Road
line to tap into the sewer. The price tag for that project was estimated at $1.5 million.
However, after hearing from the landfill neighbors opposed to the plan, the county commissioners agreed
none of the neighbors will have to foot the bill for the county landfill sewer line.
The homes are currently served by septic systems, all of which are reported to be functioning properly.
Residents expressed frustration that they may be forced to pay an estimated $15,500 each for a system
they don’t need.
County officials have explained that they can no longer afford to truck leachate from the landfill to
Bowling Green’s wastewater plant. Ken Rieman, director of the county solid waste management district,
said the amount of leachate is growing, the amount charged by Bowling Green to treat the waste has
increased, and the cost of trucking the leachate has jumped. An estimated 4.3 million gallons of
leachate will be trucked to Bowling Green this year, costing up to $166,000.
So it was decided that the sewer line will serve only the landfill – and no one else between the facility
and the city of Bowling Green.
"The system has been designed to strictly handle the flow from the landfill," Tom Stalter, of
Poggemeyer Design Group, said to the commissioners.
"We don’t want people to have to tie into it," Commissioner Jim Carter said.
While the revised plans shaved nearly half a million dollars off the project, Carter asked if there was
anyway to save even more.
"Is there a way to get this out on the bid track any faster," he asked, noting the lower than
estimated bids being received locally on construction projects.
Our goal is to get it out on the street as fast as possible," Stalter said, explaining the plans
could possibly make it out for bids a week earlier than planned.
"The contractors are very hungry still," he said, noting that most of the federal stimulus
projects have not gone out for bids yet.
Dave Selhorst, of Poggemeyer Design Group, said many bids are coming in about 10 percent lower than
predicted.