Plan started to get Peninsula the water its residents, businesses need - Akron Beacon Journal

Plan started to get Peninsula the water its residents, businesses need

Waiting for water: Plan in the works to extend water lines from Hudson to Peninsula
Eric Marotta

Most people don't think about turning on the faucet, but without a central water system in Peninsula, water can sometimes be in short supply.

Rocky ground means wells are shallow or non-existent and many households and businesses rely on deliveries into cisterns.

When someone stole one of two trucks that supply the village earlier this month, it only took about a day before residents started going dry, said Todd Alexander, owner of Alexander Water Co. His company makes daily runs to supply about 130 customers. On the night the one truck was stolen, his other truck was in the shop for repairs.

"We've got regular deliveries and then people always call in because they ran out of water or they weren't watching and it's running low," he said. "Most of them just call us when they need water."

Village and county officials are seeking short-term and long-term solutions to keep the water flowing in the small town to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Multi-million dollar water, sewer systems planned

The village is under an EPA order to do something about its septic systems which have been found to be leaking E. coli into storm water drains and catch basins, and thus into the Cuyahoga River.

Akron and Summit County are designing a plan for a sewage treatment plant and central sewers in Peninsula to address the outdated septic systems.

At the same time, officials are working on a plan to extend the city of Hudson's water system to the village, where 126 residential, 21 commercial and five institutional properties rely on both private water wells and cisterns.

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The cost of the sewer system is estimated at between $5 million and $7 million, while the cost of the water system is estimated at between $7 million and $9 million, according to Michael Vinay, director of sanitary sewer services for Summit County.

Vinay said the county and Hudson are currently negotiating an agreement for the water project.

"Summit County would construct the water distribution infrastructure and then, when completed, it would be given over to the city of Hudson for ownership, operation and maintenance," he said. "We're hopeful to have discussions in the next couple of weeks. We have been having discussions, but we're framing an agreement right now."

County Executive Ilene Shapiro has set aside $7.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for the sewer project. It remains to be seen if the water extension can be covered through the same source to avoid property assessments, where the cost of the work is paid for by the property owner.

"We're trying to avoid that through the use of ARPA funds and grant funds," Vinay explained.

"We've already received a $500,000 grant from H2Ohio for the design of the water system and we're going to seek those (ARPA) funds for the construction of the system," he said. H2Ohio is a state program that provides funding for programs that improve water quality.

Hudson Communications Manager Jodi Roberts said no date has been set for Hudson City Council to review the water line extension proposal.

In a previous discussion with council, Hudson City Manager Thomas Sheridan said Hudson appears to have the capacity to both serve Peninsula, as well as other upcoming planned expansions.

How Summit County rescued Peninsula during recent water emergency

When the water delivery truck recently was stolen, Village Councilman John Krusinski, the village council's liaison for water and sewer issues, said no other local source for water could be found.

The shortage happened before a busy weekend, when thousands of visitors were expected to visit the small town known as the gateway to the

"The Winking Lizard has their own truck, but it was also down," Krusinski said.

Calls started coming in that Friday − the day after the truck was stolen, he said. There were concerns that events may have to be canceled at businesses including restaurants and the Peninsula Foundation.

"In a very busy weekend in the village, we kind of realized we couldn't allow this to happen," he said.

Fortunately, he said, the Summit County Executive's Office was able to track down a couple of companies that could send trucks to make deliveries: one from Louisville in Stark County and one from Wooster.

Alexander: Happy to be put out of business

Whoever took Alexander's water truck moved fast and the truck was nearly recovered a few days later after it was seen parked in the North Canton area.

"We put something out on Facebook and it took a while, but somebody spotted it and said it was sitting down there," Alexander said. "It was there all weekend, but they didn't see our post or respond to our post until Tuesday and the truck was gone on Monday night. Somebody had moved it."

According to Akron police, Alexander notified them that he got an alert that an intruder had drove onto his property on Akron Peninsula Road at 10:50 p.m. Oct. 5. When his security system showed the vehicle was still on the property a few minutes later, Alexander left his home in Peninsula to see what the trespasser was doing.

He arrived at 11:05 p.m. to find the truck was gone.

Complicating deliveries that weekend, a pair of water main breaks led to a boil alert that included Alexander Water Co.'s source. Since cisterns are vulnerable to contamination, the water could not be used and an alternative source had to be found.

Alexander, 64, said he took over the company from his father and will be happy to be put out of business by a new water line extension.

"I do this because the people of Peninsula need water," he said. "Most of those people I went to school with. I grew up in that town. My father did this when he retired from, Chrysler and I have a full-time job that is not water, but people need water and so if I don't do it, I don't know who will."

Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com.