YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (WKEF)– We have some exciting news from the Village of Yellow Springs. Thanks to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Development, a huge water infrastructure project will help improve the community’s health without stretching the village’s financial burden.
“They have an outdated distribution system and their trying to modernize their system and get rid of the led connectors and to be able to do that without putting that financial burden on residents on homeowners here in yellow springs it’s huge,” said Anne Vogel, director of Ohio EPA.
Vogel said the approved water infrastructure project was so exciting for the agency and Yellow Springs. The Ohio Department of Development spent more than $1.6 million, with the Ohio EPA contributing more than $170,000. This takes a huge financial burden off homeowners to have to pay for improvements.
“We’re able to add seven new hydrants to areas that did not have fire protection. We put in larger pipe size to be able to have more volume for houses in the local areas. We’re about 80% complete with our galvanized replacement lead replacement lines,” said Johnnie Burns, village manager.
Burns added he’s grateful this project finally came to life because it’s been a long time coming.
“We’ve had mapping that said hey this is gonna be a project all the way back to the 80s,” said Burns.
“They started with no mapping, they didn’t know what their distribution was and so they start digging, they start finding where the need was,” said Vogel.
Burns said although lead was not a big problem in the village, this project will help with its prevention.
“So far we have not taken out big lead lines that everybody thinks you would take out,” said Burns.
Burns also told Dayton 24/7 Now’s, Kysha Hancock between 400-500 people in the area will be impacted by this project and encourages other communities to take action to bring this project to their area.
The Village of Yellow Springs said they’re committed to the community’s growth and hopes for more impactful projects in the future. They’d also like to thank Governor Mike DeWine for his work in allowing this project to happen.