Appreciate our essential services every day
Because so much of the work Montgomery County Environmental Services does is behind the scenes or underground, it’s easy to take these public works for granted.
We don’t think twice about our utilities until we turn on the tap after a water main break and our water is discolored or until our trash doesn’t get picked up because snow is slowing down the drivers.
After 14 years serving on the Solid Waste Advisory Committee and Solid Waste Management Policy Committee, I’m convinced of the importance of better understanding these essential operations.
Our Montgomery County Environmental Services division is made up of more than 300 men and women who provide drinking water, solid waste, recycling, and wastewater reclamation services to the businesses and citizens of the county – a community service that began in 1924.
Today, there are more than 80,000 water and sewer customers. The county also operates and maintains approximately 1,200 miles of sanitary sewer lines and 1,400 miles of water main lines. The environmental lab tests more than 12,000 water samples each year to ensure water quality and safety.
When it comes to water, sewer and trash, we often don’t spend much time thinking about the service until something goes wrong – until we experience a break in service that can really disrupt our lives.
Aging infrastructure is a problem that most communities across the country are facing.
Environmental Services is on a mission to examine every sewer line in the county. And they are working to re-line the sewers with resin-cured material to combat leaks. So far, nearly 34 miles of sewer lines have been relined.
The current focus is on the Stillwater Basin, in the northwest section of the county. In 2020, the team switched from a reactive approach, to a proactive approach when it comes to lining. Since then, the team has cleaned debris from 23,000 feet of sewer, and have lined 8,000 feet of problem areas with resin-cured liner.
The Stillwater Lift Station, built in 1958 and located at Wegerzyn Gardens, was damaged during the May 2019 tornadoes. It will soon undergo a major renovation, and be relocated to county-owned property on Shoup Mill Road. A lift station is a pumping facility that moves wastewater from lower to higher elevation and averages 4.9 million gallons of flow per day. The goal is to have the relocated lift station operational by summer 2023.
When the pandemic kept people housebound last year, many Montgomery County residents cleaned their homes of unwanted trash. The county’s solid waste transfer facility logged a record 205,755 citizen transactions and 79,207 tons of trash during 2020, a significant increase over 2019.
In addition to serving as a transfer station for communities across the Miami Valley, the Solid Waste District also houses the Environmental Learning Center and the Keep Montgomery County Beautiful Program. KMCB provides free neighborhood clean-up resources. It has been recognized by the national Keep America Beautiful organization with the President’s Circle Award 16 times.
Environmental Services is also offering communities with an opportunity to obtain funding to help with recycling endeavors. The 2022 District Incentive Grant applications will provide a total of $700,000 in grant funding to businesses, schools and communities that commit to litter prevention efforts, recycling and waste reduction efforts. More information will be posted on www.mcohio.org. Other recycling efforts Environmental Services has hosted include two Styrofoam collection events this year, drawing more than 300 vehicles and more than 1,000 pounds of Styrofoam at each event. The recycled Styrofoam will be used to make items such as outdoor furniture, roofing tiles, coat hangers, seedling containers, and door and window frames.
A semitrailer was nearly filled with Styrofoam following Styrofoam Recycling Events in January and May of this year. The events were a collaboration between Montgomery County Environmental Services, The City of Dayton and EcoDevelopment. More than 300 cars showed up for the May 15 event.
Another ongoing collection effort, the Tire Buy-Back event, is Sunday, Sept. 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It was canceled last year due to the pandemic. However, more than 108,000 tires were collected in the seven previous buy-back events.
This program is an excellent way for residents to help combat illegal scrap tire hauling and dumping, especially near our waterways. Montgomery County residents are permitted to bring 10 scrap tires per year for free recycling at the transfer facility. (Ohio Law prohibits anyone from hauling more than 10 without a hauling license).
Environmental Services can offer presentations by experts on subjects including groundwater protection, litter prevention, recycling, water conservation, wastewater treatment, and infrastructure. Call (937) 225-4999 for more information.
Through regular day-today operations, or stormcaused outages, and especially during the pandemic, our Montgomery County Environmental Services employees have proved that they are truly essential workers. Please join me in recognizing their service.