The work to replace nearly 9,000 feet of more than 100-year-old sewer lines, which are federally mandated for replacement, has been approved by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The project has been waiting for many decades to fix the problem of the old lines that run off, contaminating bodies of water within the park with E. coli from fecal matter. During heavy rain, overflow systems discharge untreated wastewater directly into rivers and streams, including the sensitive waters of Mill Creek, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

The estimated $40 million phase I & II of the project is scheduled to begin in late December or early January and will close parts of the park to the public for up to two years. The Youngstown City Council approved the work in late August. 

The city is going to expand its sewer system to prevent overflows and contamination of bodies of water in the park. Additional work on sewer lines for Phase III construction is expected in April 2028. The entire four-part Mill Creek Interceptor project is now slated for completion by September 2032.

Parts of the park that will be affected by this Phase I/II work will include Calvary Run Trail, Slippery Rock Trail, Old Tree Trail, One Way Drive Trail and Lake Glacier.

The battle to stop the contamination from overflow began in 1998.

Most of the sewer lines to be replaced in this phase of work are around Lake Glacier, a man-made lake added to the park in 1906. 

Those lines were added in throughout the park, much to the objection of Mill Creek MetroParks founder Volney Rogers.

The park was first established in 1891 as a refuge from a growing industrial city.

By 1915, Rogers publicly opposed Youngstown's plan to allow sewage to flow into the park's lakes.

“It is one of the eternal principles of right and wrong that every one shall so use his own land as not to injure his neighbor, and it follows that every one shall take care of his own sewage, so that he shall not harm others,” wrote Rogers in an article in the local newspaper on August 15, 1915. Rogers, a lawyer by trade and a park board commissioner, was a passionate advocate for protecting the park.

He took this battle all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1919, where he lost. Work began immediately with the installation of sewer lines through the park. 

Now the work begins to fix issues that were put in place more than a century ago.

Phases I and II are currently scheduled to be completed by May 2028. 

 

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