Ellsworth secures $7M for crucial water treatment overhaul

Annie Doyle, The Petoskey News-Review
·2 min read
The Village of Ellsworth is eligible to receive a $2,081,000 loan and $5,528,000 grant to construct a wastewater collection and treatment system. Village residents are currently operating individual, on-site collection and treatment.
The Village of Ellsworth is eligible to receive a $2,081,000 loan and $5,528,000 grant to construct a wastewater collection and treatment system. Village residents are currently operating individual, on-site collection and treatment.

ELLSWORTH — The Village of Ellsworth is eligible to receive a $2,081,000 loan and $5,528,000 grant to construct a wastewater collection and treatment system from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

The funding is part of a program giving $32,789,000 in loans and grants to six rural communities across Michigan allocated for water and sewer improvements.

Ellsworth residents are currently operating individual, on-site collection and water treatment.

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Despite a 2021 Ellsworth water quality report indicating the village’s tap water met all Environmental Protection Agency and state drinking water health standards, two of the village’s wells were flagged as being highly susceptible to contamination.

According to the report, the village’s water comes from three groundwater wells. Two are located at 9607 Main St. and the other is located at the end of Water Street. The state performed an assessment to determine their susceptibility to contamination by reviewing the source water geology, well construction, water chemistry and potential contaminant sources nearby. It was determined that Ellsworth’s Main Street wells had a “high susceptibility” and the Water Street well had a “moderately high susceptibility” to contamination, according to the report.

The Health Department of Northwest Michigan said the new project is necessary to alleviate health and sanitary violations and could be designed to improve the community's resiliency against the impacts of climate change.

The USDA funding is meant to enable select rural communities to expand access to clean and reliable drinking water, sanitary waste disposal and stormwater drainage.

Ellsworth Village Clerk Marlene Drenth told the Charlevoix Courier that village officials have determined the total amount of a new water treatment system will exceed the approximately $7 million provided by the USDA and the path forward regarding the project remains uncertain.

For more information, visit usda.gov.

— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Ellsworth secures $7M for crucial water treatment overhaul