Residents and community leaders discuss replacing water main in Woodward Hill

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

“The whole thing was done in one summer,” said local resident Tom Swisher, who helped his father and other residents build the line as a 10-year-old. “I think it was 1969 or 1970.”

“Everyone did their best,” said resident and Woodward Hill Water Association president Debra Fritz.

Woodward Hill includes about 20 homes along State Route 202, south of OH-571. Rocky terrain prevents wells from working. Fritz said many wells in the area produce less than 6 gallons per hour at a depth of about 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 just got connected to the system,” Swisher said.

In the 1960s, residents, motivated by the need for a reliable water source, formed the Woodward Hill Water Association. The group used federal funds to build the Woodward Hill water main, a three-inch-thick cast iron and PVC water main that runs about 3.75 miles to the Town of Tipp wells near the gravel pit on OH-571.

“There was some financing and the company borrowed money,” Swisher said. “I think it was $30,000 at the time, which was a lot of money at the time.”

“The job was cheaper than it could have cost because it was done entirely by members,” Fritz said. “They brought jackhammers in on Friday night, worked with them all weekend and picked them up on Monday.”

“PVC was relatively new and they didn’t really know how long it would last when they put it in,” Swisher said. “They moved the river to one side so we could work on the other half. Then when we finished laying the pipe here, they moved the river to this side and dug a trench in the other direction.”

“It’s wooded now,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine anything ever went through there; the bridge was replaced afterward.”

About 20 years ago, the pipeline was changed and is now supplied directly with water from the town of Tipp, said Fritz.

The Woodward Hill water main needs to be replaced due to its age, and leaks, which are difficult to locate due to the rocky terrain, are becoming more frequent.

Fritz said a water main burst near OH-571 last week caused a 600 to 700 gallon per hour leak, potentially costing the water board several thousand dollars.

“How big does a water leak have to be before everything under the street gets washed away?” asked Don Black, a resident of the community. “It’s a safety issue.”

“There will be a hole in the ground or something like that,” he said.

“We fear the day it happens under the river,” Swisher said.

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

“They’ve done their best, but some of it is rocky,” she said.

Residents and water board members have approached the municipality’s trustees for help in commissioning an engineering study to determine the cost of replacing the line.

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

Fritz said any additional funds for the project would come from the Water Association or could be paid through taxes from property owners in Woodward Hill.

“It says we expect the community to pay for it, but we will pay for it through taxes,” Swisher said.

“The property owners who benefit from this are taxed and this taxation is included in their taxes for 20 years,” said van Haren. “The municipality has contributed funds to reduce this taxation, with Brandt responsible for the sewage service and Phoneton for the water service.”

“All of this cannot even be remotely discussed until a technical study is available,” she said.

“I’m neither for nor against it at this point, I’d just like to see other options explored,” said Julie Reese, chair of the Bethel Township Trustees Association.

“We don’t have water pipes here in the community,” she said. “Why do they come to us first?”

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

Reese said that approval from the local council may not be required to place advertisements to bid on an engineering study.

“I don’t think that’s true,” Reese said. “If they wanted to do it themselves, they could do it themselves. I don’t know for sure.”

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

Bethel Township trustees heard comments from residents about the water main at their regular meeting on Tuesday, August 6, even though it was not on the agenda. A meeting is now scheduled with officials from Bethel Township and Tipp City to discuss how to bring the issue to the Tipp City Council at a future work session.

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

“The extension to Studebaker Road costs over $3 million,” she said. “If you just calculate the distance, that means the actual work would cost over $1 million. I don’t think the municipality should have to fund the whole thing.”

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