Site work for a water / sewer project in S Zanesville, Ohio. Conceptual plans call for site work for a water / sewer project.

Muskingum County applied for financing from the Ohio Water Supply Revolving Loan Account (WSRLA) to fund the Maysville Regional Connection and WTP Upgrade, Phase 1 project. This project is the first phase of an overall project to supply drinking water through an interconnection from the Muskingum County Water Department to the Maysville Regional Water District to address water quality issues in Maysville's system. The estimated loan amount for this project is $652,694, with construction scheduled to begin in summer of 2024 and last approximately six months. The Maysville Regional Water District, owns and operates a water treatment plant (WTP) and distribution system that serves a population of 6,540 in the Springfield and Newton townships (see Figure 1) of Muskingum County. The WTP is located at 6255 Maysville Pike, in Zanesville, and draws its source water from Frazier Quarry. For almost ten years Maysville Regional Water District has been in violation of drinking water standards, primarily due to elevated levels of disinfection byproducts (DBP), specifically trihalomethanes (THM), in its finished water. DBP include THM and haloacetic acids, which have connections to disease in humans. DBP are formed by the interaction of residual chlorine used for disinfection with organic matter that remains in treated water. Longer exposure times of residual chlorine to the organic matter yield higher DBP levels. The Disinfection/Disinfectant Byproduct Rule requires finished water at all points in a distribution system to have DBP concentrations of no more than 0.080 micrograms per liter. In extensive distribution systems where water can have a long residence time in the pipes, DBP levels can exceed the standard at the fringes of the distribution system. In 2018 Ohio EPA issued Director's Final Finding and Orders (DFFO) to Maysville Regional Water District to resolve these issues, and several alternatives were considered. In 2022 Maysville Regional Water District approached the Muskingum County Water Department (MCWD) to supply all drinking water for its system to address water quality and DFFOs. MCWD owns and operates a robust WTP and distribution system that serves approximately 9,000 homes and businesses over large portions of Muskingum County through a network of more than 300 miles of water lines, 13 water storage tanks, and nine pump stations that surround the city of Zanesville. MCWD also supplies water to the Village of Roseville. The MCWD's WTP, whose source water is from five 1-million-gallon-per-day (MGD) wells along the Muskingum River, near Duncan Falls, is able to provide up to 4 MGD; the WTP currently operates at a little over half capacity on an average day. The total estimated cost for the proposed project is $652,694. MCWD is eligible for $445,000 in WSRLA principal forgiveness, a loan which will not need to be repaid. Additionally, they expect to receive the remainder in state infrastructure grant. MCWD proposes to borrow this amount from the WSRLA, and qualifies for a 30-year, zero-percent interest rate for water regionalization projects. Borrowing $207,694 at zero percent will save MCWD approximately $159,000 for the 30-year loan period compared to borrowing the same amount at the current market rate of 4.18 percent The method of Contractor Selection has not been Determined at this time.