Cherry Ridge, Ohio
About Cherry Ridge
Cherry Ridge is a small community of about 120 people located in Holmes County, Ohio next to the village of Sugarcreek. The community has faced issues with their aging water supply system. The pipes in the community are all over 30 years old and have begun to leak in multiple areas. These leaks have lead to decreased water pressure, which brings up not just operability concerns, but also health concerns with potential contamination. In addition to fixing the current system, this project sought to expand the water supply system to support future construction.
Our partnership
With approval from the Community Engineering Corps, the Local Projects Cherry Ridge team has partnered with American Water Works Association to enhance water quality and increase water pressure for Cherry Ridge community members. The team began developing a general plan and performed an alternatives analysis to determine the best options for the community. The team determined that a new 6-inch diameter water line with a requisite pump station to increase water pressure was the best option for the community. However, that solution was found to be quite expensive. After searching for funding, little was able to be obtained, so the team began investigating other options.
The team began research into private systems such as wells and cisterns for the community. After extensive research into cost and feasibility, the team was ready to present some options to the community. When the Ohio EPA heard that we were going to propose private systems as their best solution, the EPA made an effort to help us find funding for them to install a new public water system. The Cherry Ridge team quickly applied for grant money through an EPA fund and was awarded substantial funding for the project. This solution would involve Cherry Ridge dissolving their water system and merging with a neighboring community.
For this solution to work, it would require coordination between Cherry Ridge, its neighboring community, and the county office. However, issues between these parties put this solution on hold. Now that the Cherry Ridge community is expecting money from the state of Ohio for the merging of water systems with a different neighboring community, our Cherry Ridge team has closed out the project. Although we acknowledge that our part is done, we are staying in contact with the community through this process, and it appears Cherry Ridge will end up with a fully funded public water system and will not be responsible for water testing post-merger. The team is proud of our efforts to perform an alternatives analysis, cost estimate, and bring funding to Cherry Ridge.
