Kaptur: Low-Interest Federal Loan Aims to End Raw Sewage Dumping in Lake Erie

New Wastewater Collection and Treatment System to Improve Health of Residents of 533 Homes,
End the Practice of Subdivision’s Dumping Raw Sewage Destined for Lake Erie.

Washington, DC — Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) announced today that the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development has approved a $4.3 million low-interest forty-year loan for the purpose of making “improvements to the Pheasant Run Subdivision’s wastewater collection and treatment system.”

The Pheasant Run Homeowner’s Association has been engaged in a roughly twenty-year dispute over its treatment of its wastewater, accused in a 2007 lawsuit of allowing its wastewater treatment plant to dump 542,000 gallons of raw sewage into the Wellington Creek, a tributary of the Black River, which eventually ends up in Lake Erie.

Untreated wastewater and sewage is a known contributor to recent algal blooms occurring in Lake Erie.

The Pheasant Run Subdivision consists of 533 homes located in Southern Lorain County and their wastewater is treated by a community treatment plant which no longer meets the minimum health standards of the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. According to the Office of Rural Development “the wastewater improvements will bring the Pheasant Run Area into EPA compliance, which in turn will improve the health to the occupants of the 533 homes.” The loan term is for forty years, at a 2.2 percent annual interest rate.

The Office of Rural Development explained:

“Rural Development funds will finance improvements to the Pheasant Run Subdivision’s wastewater collection and treatment system. Pheasant Run is located in Southern Lorain County and their wastewater is treated by a community treatment plant, which no longer meets EPA Standards. Once this project is completed Lorain County will decommission the current plant and send the wastewater to the City of LaGrange’s wastewater treatment plant. In addition to the change in treatment the wastewater collection system will be rehabilitated to reduce the amount of inflow and infiltration into the system. With Rural Development Financing, the wastewater improvements will bring the Pheasant Run Area into EPA compliance, which in turn will improve the health to the occupants of the 533 homes.

40 years 2.25 percent $4,300,000”



For more information:

USDA Office of Rural Development: https://capwiz.com/usdarural/utr/1/MYNUXTZWOM/GZRQXTZWPO/11278895261

Chronicle-Telegram story on raw sewage: https://www.loraincounty.com/pheasant-run-association/discussion.shtml?id=184763&f=15&v

The Press article on sewage and algal blooms: https://www.presspublications.com/15283-sewer-overflow-contributes-toward-harmful-algal-blooms-in-lake





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