Huber Heights seeks OPWC funding for $2.4 million Taylorsville Road water main

Huber Heights city staff said Sept. 2 they will apply to District 4 of the Ohio Public Works Committee for funding to install a new 24-inch water main along Taylorsville Road.

The new pipeline would run about 5,400 feet from the water treatment plant up Taylorsville Road to Wildcat Road, at an estimated cost of $2,400,000, city staff said. The project would add a second 24-inch main alongside an existing 24-inch pipe that is about 35 years old and a downstream 20-inch main that staff said is about 60 years old.

City staff described the existing mains as the primary feed from the treatment plant to the city system and said they have suffered three major breaks in the last 10 years that each took nearly a full day to repair. During repairs the treatment plant must be shut down and the city relies on water stored in towers, a reserve staff said is roughly a day-and-a-half of supply and can be drained during extended repairs.

If the new main is built, both pipes would be placed in service so the additional line can provide redundancy and keep the distribution system supplied if one line fails, staff said. Design work is slated to begin next year, with bidding expected at the end of next year and construction the following year.

At the Sept. 2 work session, council had no objections to moving the application to the Sept. 8 regular meeting agenda for formal consideration.

The application to OPWC District 4 does not itself approve construction; council would still need to authorize contract awards and appropriate funds if and when the project receives grant or loan assistance.