FR is seeking another grant

FORT RECOVERY — The village is applying for another grant.

Fort Recovery village administrator Randy Diller told Fort Recovery Village Council about a potential grant to pay for dredging the wastewater lagoons Monday.

The village has submitted an application to the Ohio Department of Development’s Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grant Program, which provides dollars to “improve access to clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure,” according to its website.

Diller explained after the meeting that the grant, if awarded, would likely come in around $500,000 to remove sludge from both ponds at the wastewater lagoons. The process would clean the lagoons and allow the village to “start fresh” moving forward, he said.

Fort Recovery has been treating its lagoons with products from Kainos Ag for more than a year. Originally intended to provide sludge reduction, the company hasn’t been able to prove it has reduced the amount of sludge but it has appeared to help with the odor that had been a complaint for residents. Plans are to continue using the products for now, with Diller noting new Ohio Environmental Protection Agency standards on the horizon in the next few years.

Ohio communities may apply for up to $5 million in grants for construction projects through the Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grant Program, formerly known as the Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure program. As of July, nearly $500 million had been awarded to 343 projects as a part of the program.

In June, Fort Recovery received a $1.25 million grant from the program’s fourth round of funding to go toward constructing a 250,000-gallon elevated water tower with an additional 2,600 linear feet of water line to connect it to the village’s distribution system. Diller noted Monday he’s working through final details on the $1.65 million project, which will likely be put out for bid in the next three to four weeks.

Diller told council in December he submitted a $4 million grant application to the same program to pay for switching to a new water-softening process. The village is looking into shifting from lime and caustic soda treatment to reverse osmosis membrane softening, which would involve pumping water under pressure through reverse osmosis membrane elements (tube-shaped filters with about 15 layers).

The new softening process would decrease the village’s chemical costs by an estimated $210,000 annually, according to a study conducted by PMG Consulting and Shoaf Consulting. Initial construction costs — plans include installing 56 reverse osmosis membranes as well as locating and drilling a third well — are estimated at $4.35 million.