“This is not a small local problem, this is a regional issue,” said Shelby’s mayor Marilyn S. John in Wednesday’s meeting at Bellville’s Police Department. In response to the flooding in Richland County earlier this summer, mayors, county commissioners, community members, and State Representative Mark Romanchuk convened to talk about possible solutions to excessive flooding.
Representatives from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) were invited to speak on behalf of the district’s services that were being proposed to Richland County’s leaders as a possible supplement to funding flooding solutions.
The meeting was called in response to the recent floods that impacted much of Richland County earlier this summer.
In attendance were mayors from Bellville, Lexington, Shelby, and Mansfield among other community members like Bridget McDaniel from the Richland Community Development Group (RCDG). State Representative Mark Romanchuk and Darrell Kick, field representative for Congressman Bob Gibbs also attended.
MWCD serves as the largest political subdivision of the State of Ohio and was created by community members in 1933. It is devoted to reducing the effects of flooding and conserving water for public uses under the Conservancy Act. They are responsible for the construction of 14 dams and reservoirs in its 18-county jurisdiction area.
Representatives Boris Slogar and John Hoopingarner proposed conducting a study of the maintenance of hydraulic efficiency of the rivers that run through Richland County. The study would essentially gauge what type of flood retention project is necessary. A study is currently underway with the Black Fork River that runs through downtown Shelby.
The study is costing MWCD approximately $250,000. If Richland County as a whole decided to merge with MWCD, the first line of action would be a study of hydraulic efficiency.
Commissioner Ed Olson asked, “Do you [MWCD] have the monies to do the study?” John Hoopingarner replied, “No. We have the ability to get the funds to do the study.”
The study will not only gauge hydraulic efficiency, it will also measure the benefits of different solutions, i.e., dams. Hoopingarner stated, “If the benefits of the solution exceed the cost, the conservancy district will move forward with the specific project.”
For context, a watershed district is a governmental entity that monitors and regulates the use of water in a watershed area. Though it is a governmental entity, the people living within the watershed region form it and help fund it by way of levies.
Toward the end of the meeting, Representative Romanchuk said, “Warning services are the next things to figure out because solutions are going to take a while.”
Warning services provided by MWCD include sending alerts to the mayors when the water from the rivers are exceeding dangerous levels. Sensors are used to determine this piece of data and are then transmitted to city officials. Shelby has one of these sensors in place already.
For more information on the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, visit their website.
