$4.3 million federal loan to finance repairs to Pheasant Run's wastewater treatment plant
by James McCarty, The Plain Dealer
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today approved a $4.3 million low-interest loan to a Lorain County housing subdivision to help pay for improvements to a wastewater treatment plant that has been dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into a nearby creek for years.
The 40-year loan to the county is earmarked for the Pheasant Run subdivision in the Village of LaGrange to help the community resolve a nearly 20-year dispute over the substandard collection and treatment of wastewater generated by 533 homes in the development.
According to a $1 million lawsuit filed against the Pheasant Run Homeowners' Association in 2005 and later settled, the housing development's wastewater treatment plant pumped 542,000 gallons of raw sewage per year into the Wellington Creek. The creek is a tributary of the Black River, which flows into Lake Erie.
David Rieger said in the lawsuit that raw sewage from Pheasant Run passes through his property via the creek, causing a "great stench," and spreading harmful bacteria.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Democrat from Toledo and co-chair of the Great Lakes Task Force in the House, hailed the 2.2 percent loan from the federal Office of Rural Development. She noted that untreated wastewater and raw sewage is a known contributor to the massive algal blooms that have grown in Lake Erie over the past decade.
"We've had real good cooperation from the USDA," Kaptur said. "We're trying to identify the streams and rivers that are carrying this effluent into the lake. They're going to divert the effluent from the Wellington Creek before it flows into the Black River."
The loan money will pay for improvements to bring the community wastewater treatment plant into compliance with the EPA health standards, "which in turn will improve the health to the occupants of the 533 homes," Kaptur said.
Officials from the Rural Development office said the improvement plan will involve an updated treatment system and a rehabilitated wastewater collection system.
Meanwhile, work will be underway to expand LaGrange's wastewater treatment plant, doubling the size of the facility so that it can eventually accept the sewage from Pheasant Run, said Mayor Kim E. Strauss. After the Pheasant Run project is completed, Lorain County will decommission the plant and pump the wastewater to the LaGrange facility.
According to the minutes of a LaGrange Village council meeting, the loan will be repaid with a minimal increase in user fees collected from Pheasant Run residents. Upgrades will include new residential meters.
Lorain County will pay to replace the sewer lines that run into the subdivision, including a forced main pipe connecting the subdivision to LaGrange's wastewater treatment plant, Strauss said.
Construction is expected to start next year.