Donnelsville is making strides to connect more than 200 residents to municipal water lines, a project prompted by pollution in local wells.
Donnelsville broke ground on a new water tower last week that will be used to connect residents to a public water system.
The Clark County Utilities Department will construct, maintain and own the system on the village’s behalf. Funding for the $10 million project comes from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The village has been working since 2018 to secure funding to construct the new utility system.
All residents currently rely on wells for drinking water access. But some of those wells are contaminated with PCE, a carcinogen toxic to humans, even at low levels.
“There's a real good possibility that pollutant is going to migrate to other known good wells at this time and there's no way to really predict where it's going to go next, " said Donnelsville Councilman Joe Taylor, who has an environmental engineering background.
The U.S. EPA added the Donnelsville aquifer to the National Priorities List in 2018, which are also known as Superfund sites and identifies some of the most contaminated land in the country. The agency is currently leading a remedial investigation in the village to locate the source of contamination and how far the plume might have traveled.
“So the best thing to do is to provide a municipal water system for everyone as they do their cleanup activities to try to safeguard against that,” Taylor said.
Donnelsville’s water saga continues
The Ohio Department of Health first pursued the U.S. EPA to test Donnelsville wells in 2011. Many were found to exceed maximum contaminant levels for PCE, as well as other volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. The chemicals identified were in widespread use in the 20th century, often used as degreasers in industrial applications.
But they haven’t identified who or what caused the contamination, leaving it up to the village, state or county to pay for remediation.
The Ohio EPA is furnishing all of the money for the project, starting with a H2Ohio grant to complete engineering studies in 2023. The village was also awarded a $5 million grant in 2024.
Remaining funding will come from the Ohio EPA’s Water Supply Revolving Loan Account, according to Clark County commission documents.
“So it's a pretty good priority in the state of Ohio to help our residents out here in Donnelsville. And they have truly stepped up with some grants and other money,” Donnelsville Mayor Hobert Kendrick said.
The water system will connect from a well field in Park Layne through state Route 235 to the village. This will also allow other county residents along the route to connect to the public water system, along with other perks, according to Taylor.
“One of the good things that will come out of it, with a municipal water source, we'll have fire hydrants, we will have a verifiable water supply tested daily for our residents. There are many benefits to this that individual wells don't have because they're not tested daily,” Taylor said.
It’s expected to be live by late 2027 to early 2028.
The U.S. EPA is planning to hold a meeting in the community soon with more details on its next steps, Taylor said. A date is yet to be announced.
