Two northern Wood County roads may soon get new storm water lines.
County Engineer John Musteric and Kevin Laughlin, storm water coordinator, attended Thursday’s Wood County Commissioner’s meeting to discuss the need for storm sewer lines along Lime City Road in Perrysburg Township and East Broadway Street in Lake Township.
They also asked for funds to do a county-wide lidar and hydrography survey.
The hope is the projects will be funded with American Rescue Plan funds.
Laughlin said the three proposed projects were the top scorers among all those under consideration.
These projects are ready to start as soon as funds are available, Laughlin added.
The new storm sewer line in Perrysburg Township would run along Lime City Road for just under one-half mile from Rockthorn Court north to Deimling Road.
There are quite a few drainage issues there that are affecting Lime City Road, Laughlin said.
The overarching issue is the bedrock there is very shallow, at about three feet, which has caused issues that have needed to be addressed for a long time, he said, and made the cost prohibited.
The goal is extending and updating the storm sewers and making sure everything is draining and running smoothly and improve the drainage at that location, Laughlin said.
The estimated cost is $437,500 which, at $175 per linear foot, is high due to the bedrock.
The East Broadway Street storm sewer project in Lake Township would run one mile from Ayers Road to Walbridge Road.
The issue is there is a failing storm water pipe along that mile of road.
There has been a foul odor and a great amount of sewage discharge in that area, Laughlin said. The discharge has been tracked to houses with failing septic systems.
A problem is when you get sewage into storm water pipes, the pipes start to erode the integrity of the tile. Some cracking of tiles has been noticed in that area, Laughlin said.
“Which is a pretty good indicator you have something other than storm water going through that pipe,” he said.
In 2020, three sewer outfalls were found flowing into the creek in that area, Laughlin said.
An outfall sewer is any pipe or conduit used to carry raw sewage to a discharge point in a body of water.
Area photography shows a large number of homes in that area, and all are on septic systems.
The Wood County Health Department is currently working on the septic system issues.
The cost to put in a new storm water line and catch basins is $530,000, or $150 per linear foot.
The closest sewage line is along Walbridge Road and the Northwestern Water and Sewer District is aware of the issue along East Broadway Street, Laughlin said.
The engineer’s office also wants to do a countywide lidar and hydrography study at a cost of $394,673.
County Administrator Andrew Kalmar said he would have to check to see if the project can be paid for with ARP funds.
Laughlin explained that while radar uses sound as a mapping tool, lidar uses light imagery and refraction to determine elevation levels.
The last lidar study done in 2016 checked two points per square meter; this survey would be 16 points per square meter, which will allow for greater accuracy, he said.
There could be $17,000 savings to the county as the company that is doing the survey also may do Lucas County at the same time, Laughlin said.
The output would be contour data every half foot.
“We are incredibly flat,” he said, and data every half foot would account for every ridge.
The survey also will offer advanced hydrography data that will look at lakes, ponds, reservoirs, streams, and marsh areas and can determine the surface flow of streams and ditch construction watershed delineation.
“There really isn’t an area in our office that won’t benefit from having this data,” Laughlin said.
The most used application will be for drainage of storm water and advanced surface analysis, but the ditch and road departments also would benefit, he said.
Musteric commented on determining the water flow along Little Cedar Creek for a project his office has worked on.
“I forget how many hours we had in that one ditch project,” he said.
“I think that is a very viable project for the county,” Laughlin said.
If funded, the lidar project will be done at the end of the year. The storm sewer projects will use county employees so the work will depend on their schedule, Musteric said.
The commissioners are expected to vote this week on whether to allocate the funding.
