Vermilion to repair roof of clearwell

VERMILION — Vermilion was notified by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to hire an Avon company for $54,970 to make repairs to the clearwell roof, Service Director Bob Kurtz said. Five proposals from contractors were submitted to the EPA Monday morning.

Water from the cracks in the roof Sept. 7 seeped down into the 47-year-old clearwell which holds the city’s drinking water and caused turbulence, prompting a more than week-long boil alert.

Since then, the city has tapped into emergency water supplies from the city of Lorain and Erie County to supply drinking water to residents.

Kurtz said the EPA accepted Gateway Tank in Avon as the contractor because of its National Sanitation Foundation certifications and their experience in above-ground tank construction.

Gateway Tank also was available to start working immediately.

Construction should begin before Friday, he said.

The process will involve filling in the roof cracks with a foam board and sealing that with hard cover to create a slope so water will drain to the east. All that would be coated with a membrane to secure against leaking.

As of yesterday, the website www.vermilion.net, reported pressure problems specifically on the east side of town because of a

broken water main on Jaeger Road in Lorain due to a car hitting a hydrant Monday.

Since Vermilion still is tapped into the emergency water supply from Lorain, residents in that area might be experiencing water problems.

More than 11 hydrant valves had to open to balance out pressure zones, Kurtz said.

“The valves automatically open or close based on pressure fluctuation to prevent main breaks,” he said.

Some Vermilion residents also might notice brown wa- ter coming from taps. This is reportedly from pressure changes while the hydrants are being flushed.

“Calcium from the lines moves through the pipes to your faucet, but if you run the water until it’s clear it’s fine to use,” Kurtz said.

Vermilion also is on a sprinkler ban because of pressure imbalance from the Jaeger Road accident.

“The more water we use, the more it affects our pressure,” Kurtz said. “Water pressure usually drops in the morning because of high consumption levels. A lot of people have automatic sprinklers with automatic timers, so we are asking people just conserve water until everything is back to normal.”

For future emergency situations, city officials hope to use some type of alert system so residents are up-to-date on developments.

“We would like to look into a text alert, putting flyers up around town and even telephone calls for people who don’t have cell phones,” Mayor Elieen Bulen said at last Friday’s City Council meet- ing. “We want to learn from this situation,”

There has not been a total cost given for the damages or a cost for the water from Erie County and the city of Lorain.

Kurtz said hopefully Lorain, Vermilion and Erie County can come to a “trade agreement in case situations like this happen again.”