By Kimberly Gasuras
The planning process of the new Bucyrus City Water Treatment Plant began in 2010 and on Saturday, the city’s largest infrastructure project was dedicated and celebrated. Nearly 100 people attended the dedication ceremony and more toured the facility throughout the day. The Bucyrus High School marching band was featured during the event also.
Mayor Jeff Reser said the process for the new plant began with former mayors, the late Roger Moore and Mike Jacobs.
Don Fox, who also was recognized by Reser during the dedication ceremony, worked for the city for 45 years and was in charge of the city’s old water treatment plant on Water Street for 15 of those years.
Reser said Fox brought the many issues at the old plant to the attention of Moore and Jacobs, revealing the need for a new facility.
“The plant on Water Street is in the flood plain area,” said Terry Spiegel, the current utility supervisor at the water treatment plant. “That plant was almost flooded in 2007 and 2012. If that would have happened, residents would have been without water service for up to a year.”
The new plant is located at 3467 Beechgrove Road and has the capacity to handle 3 million gallons of water per day, brought in from the Outhwaite Reservoir. Ground was broken in 2015 for the new, state-of-the-art plant. Jones and Henry is the engineering firm that created the plant’s layout and was constructed by Danis Industrial Construction Company.
“We are producing about one million gallons of water currently, so we have the ability to add more,” Reser said.
Reser noted that Outhwaite Reservoir was constructed after the loss of a potential factory in the area due to the lack of water that could be provided.
“Paul Outhwaite saw the need to bring more water service to the city and we are adding to that,” Reser said.