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Jefferson County receives grant money

COLUMBUS — The Jefferson County Engineer’s office has received $75,000 to assist in construction of a new, 500-ton capacity salt storage facility at its Eastern Garage outpost near Bergholz.

The grant comes the Ohio EPA’s H2Ohio Rivers Chloride Reduction Grant Program

The program is an expansion of Gov. Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative, part of which is designed to reduce excessive road salt usage and encourage communities and jurisdictions responsible for winter road and surface maintenance to adopt salt best management practices. Applicants for these grants were able to apply for funding for either new salt equipment or storage facility construction to help alleviate costs to local governments.

In the first round of funding in May, OEPA awarded a total of $1.6 million in funds to 31 communities. There were more than 260 applicants, OEPA said.

Recent water quality testing shows Ohio’s waterways are seeing an increase in salt concentrations, primarily due to the use of road salt. Salt can also cause nutrients and metals to detach from sediment, decreasing water quality, but there are many drinking water facilities across the state that utilize river water for their source of drinking water and water that is contaminated with road salt requires additional treatment. Additionally, road salt can cause issues with corrosion in pipes, valves, and other drinking water equipment. Road salt also corrodes infrastructure like bridges and shortens the life of paved surfaces.

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