Water Under the Bridge

Residents, Township Trustees discuss Woodward Hill water line replacement

BETHEL TOWNSHIP- In the late 1960s, a group of Bethel Township property owners constructed the Woodward Hill water line, working evenings and weekends with their own equipment to install a water supply line from Tipp City under the Great Miami River.

“It was all done in one summertime,” said local resident Tom Swisher, who helped his father and other residents construct the line when he was ten-years-old. “I think it was 1969 or 1970.”

“Everyone contributed the best way they could,” resident and Woodward Hill Water Association President Debra Fritz said.

Woodward Hill includes approximately 20 homes located along State Route 202 just south of OH-571. Rocky terrain prevents wells from functioning. Fritz said many wells in this area produce less than six gallons per hour at depths of approximately 160 feet.

“If my husband and I could dig a well, we would,” she said. “But we know we can’t.”

“Our neighbor has three wells, and he just joined the system,” Swisher said.

Residents formed the Woodward Hill Water Association in the 1960s, motivated by the need for a reliable source of water. The group used federal funding to help construct the Woodward Hill water line, a three-inch cast iron and PVC water main that runs approximately 3.75 miles to Tipp City-owned wells near the gravel pit on OH-571.

“There was some funding, and the corporation borrowed money,” Swisher said. “I think It was $30,000 at that point in time, which was a lot of money back then.”

“The process was less money than it could have cost, because it was all done by members,” Fritz said. “They brought jackhammers on Friday night, worked them all weekend, and then took them back on Monday.”

“PVC was kind of recent, and they really didn’t know the life of it when they put it in,” Swisher said. “They pushed the river over to one side, so we could work on the other half. Then, when we were done putting the pipe over here, they pushed the river to this side and trenched across the other direction.”

“It’s wooded now,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine anything went through there; they changed the bridge after that.”

Approximately 20 years ago, the line was changed so it is supplied directly with Tipp City Municipal water, Fritz said.

The Woodward Hill water line is now in need of replacement due to its age. Leaks, which are hard to locate due to the rocky terrain, are increasing in frequency.

Fritz said a water main break near OH-571 last week leaked 600 to 700 gallons per hour, potentially costing the water association several thousand dollars.

“How big a water leak do you have to get before you get everything washed out under the road?” township resident Don Black said. “That’s a safety thing.”

“That’s where you get a sinkhole, or something like that,” he said.

“We’re dreading the day it happens underneath the river,” Swisher said.

 “I think Woodward Hill is very happy with the service they’ve gotten from Tipp City,” Township Trustee Beth van Haren said. “They’ve done a fantastic job; it’s just the line is in disrepair. It’s just getting old.”

“They did their best, but some of it lays on rock,” she said.

Residents and members of the Water Association have approached the Township Trustees for help with advertising for bids to do an engineering study to determine the cost of replacing the line.

“They need to pass a resolution to allow advertising for the engineering bids,” Fritz said. “We have repeatedly offered to pay for those ads. Beth has offered to do the paperwork to get those worded correctly.”

Fritz said any additional funding for the project would come from the Water Association or could be assessed to Woodward Hill property owners’ taxes.

“The word that’s gone out is that we’re expecting the township to pay for it, but we’re going to pay for it through assessments,” Swisher said.

“The property owners who benefit are assessed, and that assessment is on their taxes for 20 years,” van Haren said. “The township has contributed funding to reduce those assessments with Brandt for their sewer, and Phoneton for their water.”

“None of that can even be remotely discussed until you have an engineering study done,” she said.

“I’m not for or against it right now, I’d just like to see some other options explored,” Bethel Township Trustee President Julie Reese said.  

“We don’t own any water lines in the township,” she said. “Why are they coming to us first?”

“I think more research needs to be done,” Reese said. “More options need to be exhausted.”

Reese said Township Trustees’ approval might not be needed in order to run advertisements seeking bids for an engineering study.

“I don’t believe that’s true,” Reese said. “If they wanted to do their own, they could do it themselves. I don’t know for certain.”

“I think they could do that on their own,” she said.

Bethel Township Trustees heard comments from residents regarding the water line at their regularly scheduled meeting held on Tuesday, Aug. 6, although it was not scheduled on the agenda. A meeting is now planned with officials from Bethel Township and Tipp City to discuss presenting the issue to Tipp City Council at a future work session.

“I would like more options explored,” Reese said. “I would probably vote to help with this, but not fund the entire thing.”

“To extend it up to Studebaker Road is over $3 million,” she said. “If you just do the simple math as to the distance, that means it would be over $1 million to actually do the work. I don’t think the township should have to fund the entire thing.”

“I want everybody to have good clean water,” she said, “but it seems like there are more options that need to be explored.”