I-TEAM: Nearly 3-month water leak now nearly crippling nearby Toledo business
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) — A Toledo business has almost come to a grinding halt, all because of a water leak that’s been gushing for nearly three months now.
The water leak is not on its property, the city is aware of it and yet still no fix has happened.
For months, we have shown you the leak on Arco Drive off Hill Avenue. Each time we’re there, the flow is stronger and stronger and its effects are being felt strongly by a nearby business.
Chempace Corporation on Arco Drive makes industrial cleaning products. While their list of materials is a lengthy one, all products include one main ingredient and that is water.
“It’s 100% essential. It’s what we do. Everything we make here has water in it,” said Scott Horner, CEO of Chempace.
Right now, when the team here turns on that water supply, sometimes it’s a quick blast that’s gathered in the pipes and then fizzles out. Very often, it’s just a slow trickle that would take hours, maybe days, to fill one of their vats.
“Water pressure is the least thing I would be concerned about. It should be the most reliable utility we have here and it’s not,” said Horner.
The water leak on Arco appears to be the culprit. It’s been leaking here nonstop since at least October. A car drove into a hole created by the leak in November and around that time, the pressure decreased and it’s only gotten worse.
Chempace is now trucking water in just to create its product and it’s costing them 7 times the amount of using city water.
“It’s crippling us. We’re unable to make product here. We have to ship in water. We’re limping by to keep everyone busy,” said Horner.
The city of Toledo told the I-TEAM they were going to bid the job in December to stop the leaking water. A process the city says was complicated by the fact that this property is a brownfield, a contaminated site where railroad ties were once treated.
So for months the water has simply gone right down the drain and owners at Chempace are hoping it doesn’t take this business with it, and the all the people depending on the jobs here.
The city of Toledo sent an updated statement to the I-TEAM Wednesday afternoon: “We are working through the final step of our process here. We anticipate beginning the work on Arco Dr. late this week or early next week and it should be complete in just a few days. Unfortunately, the pressure problem won’t be rectified until we make the repair. However, we were able to expedite the process to get the work underway earlier than we had originally anticipated.”
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