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County to appeal sewer order

EPA ordered installation of systems in Devola, Oak Grove areas

By Sam Shawver

Special to the Times

The Washington County Prosecutor’s Office has been authorized to file a formal appeal against the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s orders to install a sanitary sewer system in the Devola and Oak Grove communities.

“We will direct the prosecutor’s office to negotiate and file an appeal of the OEPA’s findings and orders on behalf of the county commission,” Commissioner Ron Feathers announced during Thursday’s commission meeting.

In 2012, following an investigation which OEPA officials said indicated high levels of nitrates in the Devola area’s ground water, a Director’s Final Findings and Orders was issued requiring the county to provide sewer service to approximately 320 Devola businesses and residences currently operating on septic systems.

OEPA has maintained that the high nitrates level is the result of failing septic systems in the area, and sewering the community, as well as the Oak Grove area just across the Muskingum River from Devola, would reduce the ground water pollution.

But the county commissioners have continually questioned the OEPA findings and orders, noting an investigation of area residences by the Washington County Health Department has found no failing septic systems.

The commissioners also believe the findings and orders infringe on the private property rights of Devola and Oak Grove residents who would have to foot the bill for an expensive sewering project they say is not needed.

A rough estimate initially placed the system cost at around $6 million, and there have been estimates as high as $25,000 per residence for property owners to abandon septic systems and connect into the proposed sanitary sewer project.

In an April 2016 letter to the county commissioners, Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler emphasized the requirements of the 2012 Director’s Final Findings and Orders were still valid and he urged the county to comply with those orders.

On Feb. 22 of this year the commissioners met with OEPA officials in Columbus who gave a presentation that included results of more recent testing of ground water by the agency in the Devola and Oak Grove areas.

During that meeting the commissioners were told the OEPA’s sampling confirmed that nitrate and E. coliform contamination was primarily due to failing septic systems.

On Thursday the commissioners approved a letter of response to the OEPA

meeting in February. The letter, composed by Washington County Assistant Prosecutor Nicole Coil, asked the agency for further clarification related to the findings and orders.

The letter noted OEPA had obtained additional data from ground water testing during 2016, but the agency did not notify the county health department when the testing occurred.

In addition the commissioners asked how slightly elevated levels of nitrates discovered during those tests would result in “any type of significant health risk when the nitrates in (the community’s) drinking water are within accepted levels.”

The letter also referred to the installation of reverse osmosis equipment that had solved a nitrate issue in the area’s drinking water, adding that ground water nitrate levels appeared to be declining also due to the reverse osmosis system.

Another issue addressed in the letter is that OEPA has provided no cost-benefit analysis from sewering the Devola and Oak Grove areas and the county commission has not been given an opportunity to put forth an alternate plan to sewering.

Oak Grove resident and former county commissioner candidate Don Kerr asked the commissioners why they had spent so much time working against the OEPA’s findings and orders.

“The reason we’re fighting it is the impact it will have on the private property rights of the citizens of Washington County,” Feathers said.

He said the county prosecutor’s office had requested authority to file an appeal of the findings and orders with the state. Commissioners David White and Rick Walters agreed.

“I don’t think the Ohio EPA properly identified us of those findings and orders in the first place,” White said.

“If this does go through the court system and is adjudicated in our favor, we’ll be fine. But if not we could be in big trouble,” Feathers warned.

He said the appeal would be handled by assistant county prosecutors Coil and Alison Cauthorn.

Coil said the appeal is in the process of being filed.

“The initial appeal will be filed with the Ohio Environmental Review Appeal Commission,” she said, adding that, if the issue is not settled there, the case could move up to the 10th District Court of Appeals.

Local businessman Steve Hutchinson thanked the commissioners for challenging the Ohio EPA’s orders.

“I’m concerned that the agency is not considering the cost for those people who will be impacted by this,” he said.

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