LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio — Lorain County leaders hope a new initiative will help create a pipeline for growth. The county is working to regionalize its sewer systems under a new collaborative government agency.
It will be called the Central Lake Erie Regional Water Reclamation District, shortened to the acronym CLERWTR, pronounced “clear water.”
Though the region’s sewers aren’t the most glamorous part of the county, leaders there said the underground utilities and wastewater treatment are top priorities.
“Future growth depends on having access to water and sewer,” said Jeff Riddell, the president of the Lorain County Board of Commissioners.
Friday, commissioners are expected to vote on a resolution to enter into a partnership with Avon Lake Board of Municipal Utilities and the Lorain County Rural Wastewater District (LORCO). It’s one of the first steps of the statutory process for creating a sewer district.
Among the goals of CLERWTR are to improve efficiency and centralize the county’s water reclamation.
“It’s going to be very narrowly focused on regional sewer treatment and conveyence to the sewer treatment facility,” said Munro, explaining the agency will not be responsible for the county’s drinking water or stormwater management.
It will initially use existing infrastructure, taking over LORCO’s facilities, leasing the Avon Lake reclamation facility and contracting with Avon Lake Regional Water to operate it.
“From a treatment and regulatory standpoint, nothing will change there. Avon Lake will still be responsible for the collection system in Avon Lake,” Munro said. “Initially, customers are not going to see any change.”
In the long term, county leaders anticipate savings. They said the regionalized sewer district will be able to manage sewer-related debt, help smaller facilities meet costly environmental requirements and stabilize sewer rates.
Eventually, the county would like to consolidate its nine smaller and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants into two larger facilities.
“If we can get that bulk number up fast, we could actually treat more sewage for the same cost. So the more we treat, the lower our costs are,” said Riddell.
He explained CLERWTR will focus on the county’s east side and is a separate, but tandem, project to investments from the All Ohio Future Fund on the county’s west side.
RELATED: Northeast Ohio's largest 'mega site' poised to attract new industry
Both projects aim to attract new economic investment by planning for future development.
“We believe it will come here and what we want to do is be prepared for it,” Riddell said.
Once all parties have officially agreed to participate in the CLERWTR initiative, they’ll hold a public hearing before submitting a petition and plan of operation to a court.
The hearing has not yet been scheduled, but the public can submit questions and feedback and learn more about the sewer district's efforts by visiting the website.
