Safe Drinking Water Becomes a Reality for Macedonia Hill, Ohio
By Kurtis Strickland, State Contract Manager, Ohio
The Macedonia Hill area of Lawrence County, Ohio is located just 4 miles east of the Village of South Point (population 3,836), 6 miles west of the Village of Chesapeake (population 765), 1.5 miles north of the Burlington CDP (population 2,416), and 6 miles northwest of the City of Huntington, WV (population 46,842). Even though the area is surrounded by urban areas with over 50,000 residents who have safe drinking water, residents of the Macedonia Hill area have never had access to a safe, reliable source of drinking water.
Residents of the Macedonia Hill area, a majority of which are low-income, have hauled water, used bottled water, cisterns, or contaminated wells as their source for drinking water since they first started living in the area. Many of the existing wells in the area were contaminated by Total Coliform and E. Coli.
The Macedonia Church, which is the only extant antebellum black church still standing in the state of Ohio and the first black church established in Ohio, also stands high on Macedonia Hill. The Macedonia Church is listed on the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program and is a site with extant burials and headstones of not only original settlers of the Macedonia Free Black Settlement but also of numerous United States Colored Troops Civil War Veterans. The Macedonia Church and surrounding site is historically and culturally significant, not only for Lawrence County and Ohio, but to our Nation's history.
But things are about to change, thanks to the Hecla Water Association, Lawrence County Commissioners, Lawrence County Rural Water District, and Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP).
These entities worked together, starting in February 2019, when the Ohio EPA Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance organized a meeting to discuss how to get drinking water to the Macedonia Hill area.
For over 5 years, these entities have worked together to plan, design, and obtain financing for the project. An H2Ohio Grant from the Ohio EPA paid for design of the project which was a huge step toward acquiring all the construction financing needed. RCAP assisted the Hecla Water Association and Lawrence County Commissioners in acquiring USEPA State Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) financing, Ohio Department of Development Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grant (WWIG) financing, Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Grant financing, and Lawrence County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) financing.
In May 2024, over $6,000,000 had been approved and the project was advertised for bids by the Hecla Water Association who will own, operate, and maintain the waterlines and booster station.
The project involves expanding the Hecla Water Association service area to the Macedonia Hill area by using Hecla Water Association’s existing Shaffer Hill ground storage tank, installing a continuously ran booster station with standby power, and installing approximately 40,000 feet of 4, 6, 8, and 10-inch water mains. The project will also add a redundant water main along Solida Road (County Road 18) to improve pressure.
Construction will begin in the Fall of 2024 with final completion by October 2025.