Marion Public Health has been awarded $300,000.00 from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for the health department’s Household Septic System Repair/Replacement Program. This money will be used to aid homeowners in replacing or repairing failing septic systems. This will be a “forgiveness” loan, meaning that if the loan is not repaid within 5 years, the debt is forgiven.
Marion Public Health added that this award is a valuable tool to eliminate possible sources of contamination from sewage to our well water, streams and lakes. Sewage contaminated water can cause many different intestinal diseases like E. coli, giardia, etc. It has been a cause, along with fertilizer runoff, of the growth of blue green algae that produce the cyanotoxins found in lakes and ponds. The Toledo water crisis a couple of years ago was attributed to the increased toxins from blue green algae around their public water intake location in the western basin of Lake Erie. They can be found in any water system where the conditions are favorable for their growth, i.e. warm temperatures and high levels of nutrients from fertilizer and wastewater. See the HAB Fact Sheet by clicking here.
The goal of this program is to make replacement of systems for low to moderate income families possible in an effort to reduce the amount of water pollution from failing systems in Ohio. The source of the funding is through the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Each candidate must be at 100%-300% of the poverty guidelines established by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the home must be owner occupied. The funding levels are at 50%, 85%, &100%, depending on income level. Click here to view guidelines from the 2016 WPCLF Program Management Plan.
