Loan to help upgrade Springfield waterlines
$10.6M, 30-year loan will also replace booster station.
The City of Springfield will embark on a multimillion dollar project that will involve more than 15,000 feet of waterline in order to improve water services in the eastern district of the city.
Funding for the project is coming in the form of a loan from a program administered by the Ohio Water Development Authority.
The city will receive a $10.6 million loan to be paid off over 30 years, according to a news release from the Ohio Water Development Authority and city officials.
The project will focus on the construction of waterline along Ohio 40 and Bird Road as well as a new booster station that will increase water pressure.
The new booster station will be located near the Springview Government Center and will replace a station on Ohio 41 that was installed in 1955, said Chris Moore, the service director for Springfield.
The replacement booster center, like its predecessor, will serve the eastern district of the city including the Prime Ohio II Industrial Park. However, the project aims to eliminate dead ends, increase water flow and pressure as well as add redundancy.
Moore said that work would allow the city to increase its services to the industrial park as well as create a more powerful booster station.
“There will be waterline installed where there currently isn’t. We also want to create some loops,” Moore said in regards to the upgrades to the eastern district.
In terms of the industrial park, the project would make sure that the water serving that area would be fed from multiple sources. The idea is to limit any potential disruption in services.
Moore said that work related to the construction of waterline as well as the booster station is slated to start in the next few weeks. He said that work would mainly occur off the edge of the road.
Springfield City Commissioners last week authorized the city manager to enter into an Engineering Services Agreement with Black & Veatch Corporation in regards to those upgrades, for an amount not to exceed $489,754.
That work is projected to take 18 to 20 months and the design process started in 2017. Multiple factors where looked at including the age of the preexisting booster station serving the eastern part of the city as well as the demand for water, Moore said.
Contact this reporter at 937-701-2336 or email hasan.karim@coxinc.com.