COLUMBUS, Feb. 2, 2016 -- Columbus will get a more than $8.5 million boost to imporve the region's water system. The improvements, agreed to by the City Council Monday night, include a $3 million contract modification to expand and improve the city's Dublin Road water plant.
About 1.2 million people are served by Columbus water, including suburb Franklin County. The city owns and operates three water plants, 37 storage tanks and 25 pump stations that pull and clean water from four area reservoirs. The water is delivered and serviced through about 3,500 miles of waterlines.
Of that, 2.6 miles of waterlines on the city's South Side will be replaced by Shelly and Sands Inc., which received a $3 million contract to do the work.
Burch Hyrdo Inc. of Fredericktown, Ohio, also was awarded a $1.6 million contract to clear sludge, or waste separated from the water, at the Hap Cremean water plant near Easton.
The other significant contract OK'd was for a $956,000 project with Shelly and Sands to tear apart and remake a gravel parking lot and boat ramp at Hoover Reservoir.
