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The Logan County Health District has received an $84,000 grant from the Ohio EPA’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund to help low- to-moderate-income homeowners repair and replace failing home sewage treatment systems.
An estimated 31 percent of all household sewage treatment systems throughout Ohio experience some degree of failure because of poor maintenance or age. When failing systems discharge untreated sewage, potential exposure to harmful bacteria and pathogens can cause public health concerns and threaten the environment.
Health departments in 70 counties and two cities applied for up to $200,000 each to distribute the funds under the HSTS program.
Since the program was initiated in 2016, more than $12.5 million has been disbursed, which funded 975 soil evaluations or designs and the repair or replacement of an estimated 1,200 systems.
Depending on the household income and the number of residents, homeowners may qualify for 50 to 100 percent of the total costs for hoe sewage sytem repair or replacement. From January through June 2018, approximately $2.08 million has been awarded to health districts and departments throughout southwest Ohio.
Ohio EPA’s state revolving fundloans are provided to communities to build and upgrade wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, upgrade home sewage treatment systems, better manage storm water, address combined sewer overflows and implement other water quality-related projects.
Financial assistance helps support planning, design and construction activities and enhances the technical, managerial and financial capacity of these systems. WPCLF loans also make possible the restoration and protection of some of Ohio’s highest quality water bodies through the fund’s Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program.
Ohio’s loan programs are partially supported by annual federal capitalization grants and have grown substantially over time because of the revolving nature of the loan issuance and payments back into the fund.