Rains cause damage to Hillsboro wastewater treatment plant

The Highland County area's above-average rainfall last week caused some flooding problems in low-lying areas of the county, as well as in the city of Hillsboro. The city's wastewater treatment plant had difficulty handling the excess water, and a building at the plant sustained some water damage.

Dave Shoemaker, chairperson of the Hillsboro City Council's utilities committee, said, "We had some issues out there. The plant is doing what it is supposed to do, and there was no danger to the plant. Everything worked was it was supposed to - it wasn't (because of) the way it was built and was not the contractor's fault. After investigation, it seems like it was just an act of God."

When the plans for the renovations to the plant were being finalized around 2008 to be in accordance with mandates from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Shoemaker said the plant had to be able to withstand "a 10-year 24-hour rain event, as they call it. Well, we've had about three of those in the past two weeks."

Mike Kurz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington told The Highland County Press on Monday that, "it varies across the area, but the Hillsboro seems to have 2-4 inches above the normal amount of rainfall for this month."

Kurz said that according to data provided by a cooperative weather observer in the Hillsboro area, on May 1 there was a recorded .71 inches of rainfall from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., followed by 2.59 inches of rainfall on May 2. On Friday, May 5, the area received approximately 1.55 inches of rain.

"So for the month, Hillsboro has seen 4.85 inches of rain," Kurz said.

Shoemaker said, "The water flow rate was too much for the plant to handle. We have corrected the problem. They are putting in a flow censor, which will contact the computer and shut the plant down (should the same thing occur again) and also alert the plant supervisor. That is a problem he can then manually take over from his computer at home, and make sure everything is running properly."

The city is still trying to come up with an estimate on the damage the water caused.

"It flooded into a building on the lower lever and caused some equipment damage," Shoemaker said. "It's still out on how much damage it caused, but it is insured, and the plant is operating properly."

During the Hillsboro City Council's March meeting, Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Rick Giroux reported that the construction on the city's wastewater treatment plant was at "88-percent completion and is on schedule and within budget. It should be completed by May or June, which is well within our time limits."

Shoemaker said that the recent damages may put the completion date behind a few months.

"The plant is still under construction but (the flooding issues) was not the fault of the construction," Shoemaker said. "It might set the completion date back three or four months."

The city has had ongoing issues with rainwater infiltrating the sanitary sewer system through gaps and erosion in the city's pipe infrastructure. Shoemaker said the inflow and infiltration (I & I) could have been a factor, and the city is in ongoing efforts to correct the problem. Hillsboro currently is ahead of the EPA's schedule to have the pipe situation corrected, he said.

"The I & I can be a contributor," Shoemaker said. "We haven't been able to repair all the places where it's filtering into the system. We're working to get that corrected. When you get that much rain it has to go somewhere, and some of it is probably flowing from the streets down the manholes. We're still ahead of schedule, and we hope that as soon as we get the plant sured up and running properly (work will continue on the pipe infrastructure)."