Grant helps Crooksville finish project that will prevent sewage backups on school property

CROOKSVILLE − Crooksville is undergoing a sewer line extension project that started in 2020 and 2021 after sewage smells started wafting from a group of houses on Flint Ridge Road toward Crooksville High School's baseball and softball fields.

Residential complaints triggered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action, where traces of raw sewage were found in samples taken from a drainage ditch line behind a block of five houses and one commercial building.

The project will rectify the buildings' sewer lines by assimilating them into Northern Perry Water & Wastewater's system. The project will extend 2,250 feet of sewer line, replace pumps and a control panel, and allow portable generator hookups.

The timeline was scheduled to take four total weeks, noted Jerry Rehart II, operations supervisor for Northern Perry County Water & Wastewater.

The work is being handled by engineering consultant Arcadis IBI Group, which has a site in New Lexington.

The Perry County Commissioners recently received a $250,00 grant through the Appalachian Regional Commission to cut into an estimated project cost of $588,000. The project is 100% grant-funded from two sources, noted Mitch Altier, project manager and one of Arcadis IBI Group's associate principals.

The second funding source will address the remaining balance through the EPA's Water Pollution Control Loan Fund.

Perry County's project was one of three Appalachian-area investments announced recently to spearhead sanitary sewer and drinking water projects in southeastern Ohio. The Appalachian Regional Commission investments also recently awarded projects in Noble and Coshocton counties.

Shawn Digity can be reached at sdigity@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Grant helps Crooksville finish project that will prevent sewage backups on school property