Written by The city of Marion will be receiving a sizeable forgivable loan to upgrade its Water Pollution Control Center and leachate system.
At the council meeting held on the 22nd of December, it was announced that the city of Columbus had somewhat secretively received a large settlement of an undisclosed amount and, together with the state of Ohio, was proposing that the city of Marion upgrade its water pollution control on the Little Scioto River, which feeds into the Scioto River and flows downstream to Columbus.
Matt Ice, superintendent of Marion’s Water Pollution Control Center, admitted that PFAS (i.e. forever chemicals) and other contaminant levels are very high, based on tests taken on the Little Scioto at State Route 95, which is about 0.6 miles away from the Control Center’s outlet to the river.
Keep in mind that the levels of forever chemicals are very high DOWNSTREAM from the control center.
Keep in mind, also, that Aqua Ohio’s facility is located UPSTREAM from the city’s Water Pollution Control Center.
Presumably, if the treatment was working as it should, the contaminant levels would be higher upstream (before they entered the treatment facility) and lower downstream (after they exited the treatment facility).
The city of Columbus obviously views this water contamination as a major problem, since they’re downstream and have to deal with the contamination coming out of Marion County.
Hopefully once these expensive upgrades are put in place, in conjunction with the EPA’s current and ongoing clean-up project on the Little Scioto, water quality will eventually improve.