Former water plant to be demolished after first of the year

BUCYRUS - The water treatment plant built along Water Street in Bucyrus in 1950 will soon be just a memory, Mayor Jeff Reser announced last week.

"It depends on the contractor, but we hope to have it gone by spring," Reser said.

Officials broke ground on the new $24-million water plant at 3467 Beechgrove Road, just south of Ohio 98 on the north end of town, in July 2015 after years of planning by city administrators.

Water first flowed into the plant sometime in May 2017, when engineers were ready to start testing pumps, filters and electronic monitors. By Aug. 28, 2017, the city was ready to shut down the old plant on Water Street and start using the new one full-time.

Reser said the project was engineered by Jones and Henry Engineering. A contract were awarded to Allen Excavating to demolish the old water-treatment plant, and another contract to Great Lakes Demo Company to remove the old lime lagoons used by the old plant.

The entire demolition process will cost the city a little more than $1 million.

"This is really the last piece of the money we borrowed from the state for the new water plant," Reser said.

Although the city will maintain possession of the land, the old plant technically belongs to Allen Excavating.

"They're in charge of security and everything," Reser said. "They've got the contract to tear it down."

He said city crews started taking sections of the old chain-linked fence from around the water plant to use to repair other fences around town. Once employees of the contractor learned that, they asked the city to return as many pieces as they could.

"So we're putting up a temporary fence there for them," Reser said.

That short-term fence could go up as soon as this week. Reser suspects demolition will be clearly visible sometime shortly after the start of the new year.

"It should go pretty quickly once they get there," Reser said.

Despite not being visible from the street, the demolition crews have been hard at work for nearly two months, removing parts from inside the building.

"Whatever was recyclable is out of there," Reser said.

Until the plant is completely gone, Reser said people should stay away from the structure.

"It's trespassing. Someone could seriously get hurt," Reser said. "Stay out. It's not meant for anybody to be in there."

ztuggle@gannett.com

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