TRUMBULL COUNTY, OH - Trumbull County water lines will be extended into parts of Braceville and Southington Townships. Phase two of the multi-million dollar project will have main lines running down parts of Phalanx Mills Herner Road, Leiby Osborne Road, State Route 534 NW and State Route 82 NW. 

“We had a demand for water out here for the past 50 years,” Gary Newbrough, the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer said. “Bad wells arsenic in the water, high cost of having people truck water in.”

Connecting to the utility is optional for the 250 property owners currently using wells but if they agree there will be fees.

The first fee would be for the county to install a curb box which connects the home or business lines to the main line in the street. If owners agree to the installation before March 20 it will cost $650. They can opt out but if owners want the box installed later, when the project is already completed, it will cost $4,475. 

Additionally, on top of the cost to run lines from the home or business to the curb box, anyone who gets water from the county will have a $21 fee on their bill for the next 30 years to help pay off part of the project. This is the same fee property owners are currently paying who connected in phase one of the project.

The county sent out a survey in 2021 to see if property owners would even be interested in connecting to its water lines with that fee.

“Based on the results of the survey that determined where we’re going to put these lines in,” Newbrough said. “We know this is where the demand is the greatest.”

Phase two is projected to be a total of $8,000,000. Half of that cost is covered by a grant from the Ohio EPA. Additionally, the Trumbull County Commissioners paid $450,000 of ARPA funds for the design of the project. 

The lines are expected to start receiving water from Warren in the summer of 2027. The county will be shutting off the valve to the Newton Falls water supply when the project is complete. Newbrough said the change will give them better quality of water. 

“The Village of Newton Falls, they only have chlorine disinfection as part of their treatment process and the water doesn’t maintain its quality throughout the system,” he said. “The city of Warren uses chloramines for disinfection which gives you a lot longer retention time.”

To get the lower price on the curb box property owners have to agree before March 20. There will be a public hearing about the project at Southington Local Schools on March 11 at 7p.m for more information about the project.