SIDNEY — The unseasonably mild winter has allowed contractors to make better than expected progress on both the City of Sidney water transmission line installation and well field projects. The $25 million project is contracted to be complete in the first quarter of 2017.
Howell Contractors, of Fort Wright, Kentucky, have been working twenty-four hour shifts boring under the Miami River Bridge on Interstate 75. Another Howell crew has been working to install the water transmission line from the Interstate to Kuether Road.
Peterson Construction, of Wapakoneta, has the contract for work at the well field site near Lockington. They have completed the foundation work for the pumping station and have installed pipe that connects the pumping station with some of the wells. They are currently waiting for the Permit To Install from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst, Second Ward Councilmember Darryl Thurber and Fourth Ward Councilmember Steve Wagner visited the multiple construction sites, guided by Utilities Director Larry Broughton. Although Barhorst had visited the sites previously, it was the first visit for both Thurber and Wagner.
“I am impressed with the progress that has been made,” Barhorst said following the tour. “If the weather continues to cooperate, we may well have the well field on line even sooner than we had anticipated.”
“The well field will be able to produce 10 million gallons per day (mgd) of high-quality water. Initially, we will only need to draw about 3.5 mgd to meet current need. I continue to believe this to be the most important project the City has undertaken in the last century,” Barhorst said.
“If one requires evidence of the wisdom of moving away from using surface water, the current situation in Flint, Michigan should suffice. An even closer example was the algae bloom that crippled Toledo this past year,” Barhorst said.
“If those examples are not enough, the Animas River disaster last year that forced cities in four states along the Colorado River to use alternate water supplies for some months or the 2014 chemical spill that forced Charleston, West Virginia, to shut down for several weeks should be enough to convince even the most skeptical that this project guarantees the future of the community for years to come,” Barhorst said.