BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The political and cultural chasm between Cincinnati and its suburban neighbors traditionally has been as vast as a shopping mall parking lot.
But now something is bridging the gap -- water lines.
Cincinnati Water Works is pumping more and more water beyond the confines of Hamilton County into the booming suburbs, where upscale houses, sleek office buildings, mini-malls and industrial parks are sprouting.
It's doing business with Butler and Warren counties and is hoping to sell water to Clermont County and Northern Kentucky.
"Cincinnati Water Works is definitely an option a lot of counties in the area are plugging into," said Tony Parrott, director of the Butler County Department of Environmental Services. "Building new facilities would be very costly for us."
Money fuels these new business relationships: The water works, the area's largest public water utility, receives more revenue, and the suburban counties and communities spend less money for additional water service.
As a result, everyone can charge lower water rates.
"It allows us to maintain reasonable rates across the board," said Dave Rager, water works director. "We will work with other utilities to solve their problems. We're not there to take them over or to bully them around. They know their areas and their customers better than we do."
Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls acknowledged the positive aspects of the water works' expansion.
But she noted one drawback for Cincinnati: The city's water is helping fuel development in areas that are luring away some of the city's residents and businesses.
"It creates a conflict because it supports growth outside the city and Hamilton County," she said.
Water use in Hamilton County has been declining in recent years because of departing industries, federally mandated low-volume toilets and shower heads, and automatic dishwashers, which use less water than washing by hand.
Water consumption for Cincinnati Water Works has dropped from 43.2 billion gallons in 1988 to 37.5 billion gallons last year. But the demand for water has been escalating in neighboring counties, where rapid growth is forcing public officials to ensure their supply will be adequate in 20 years.
The water works now pumps an average of 107 million gallons per day in Hamilton County and 2 million gallons per day outside the county. By 2005, the utility will be providing 129 million gallons per day to Hamilton County and 26 million gallons per day outside Hamilton County.
The water works is now pumping about half of its capacity of 260 million gallons per day.
"There's a significant amount of water we can supply outside Hamilton County," Mr. Rager said.
Another selling point for the water works is its reputation for producing clean water. The city's widely praised granular carbon filtration system was introduced in 1992. Water treatment officials from around the world come to study it.
"They go beyond what the state requirements are for water quality," said Steve Severyn, manager of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Division of Drinking and Ground Water in Dayton. "The carbon filtration system gives them an extra measure of protection from any contamination in the Ohio River water that might be there."
These are Cincinnati Water Works' activities in neighboring counties: Butler County: For several years, the water works has been pumping water to southeast portions of Butler County. It has more than 1,000 retail water customers in the vicinities of Crescentville Road and East Miami River Road. It sells wholesale water to a largely industrial area extending from Port Union to West Chester.
On Oct. 1, the water works broke ground on a project to bring water to Venice Gardens, a mostly low-income community of 300 homes in southwestern Butler County. Most residents had stopped drinking tap water because wells had been contaminated by septic tanks. The state, Butler County and Venice Gardens residents will pay the $1.7 million construction cost.
"This was one of the most satisfying projects for me to work on," Mr. Rager said. "It's the heart of what we're about -- public health."
The water works is exploring the possibility of supplying water to Hamilton and to growing areas in Union Township.
Warren County: The water works has started construction of water mains along Montgomery Road into Warren County to the Morrow area.
The water lines will serve half of Mason, southwestern Warren County and Western Water Co., a private utility that serves Warren, Clermont, Clinton, Highland and Brown counties.
Officials of Mason, Warren County and Western Water Co. were worried that the Little Miami River Aquifer could not satisfy their long-term needs.
"We have an adequate water supply for the next 10 to 15 years, but beyond that, it's an unknown," said Richard Renneker, Warren County sanitary engineer.
For all three entities, the water works' proposal was the least expensive and most efficient of several options, which included obtaining water from Middletown or Caesar Creek.
"It's a regional approach to water needs in our area," said Mason City Manager Scott Lahrmer. "Our water system is much smaller. It made the most sense for us to tap into Cincinnati water."
Cincinnati is adding new retail water customers in subdivisions in the Fields Ertel Road area and provides wholesale water to Warren County at a connection and pump station near Fields Ertel and Mason roads.
Clermont County: Clermont and Cincinnati have an agreement to supply each other with water in an emergency. They're discussing the possibility of Cincinnati supplying water to northern and western portions of Clermont's water system. Cincinnati is working with Clermont on future emergency backup and supply plans for the Branch Hill area near Loveland-Madeira Road.
Northern Kentucky: Early next year, the water works could have a contract to lay pipes under the Ohio River to Boone County and Florence. The Northern Kentucky Water Service District serves Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties with two water treatment plants.
Because of Northern Kentucky's explosive growth, the two plants won't be able to meet the area's future needs.
"It's very apparent to me and others that we would be in dire straits if we didn't make preparations for getting a strong supply of water for Boone County," said Paul Kroger, district manager of Boone County Water Department.
Studies showed that building a new plant in Boone County would cost $120 million, $70 million more than buying from Cincinnati. The water works would build a 36-inch tunnel under the Ohio River at Anderson Ferry and a 36-inch water main along River Road from State Avenue to Anderson Ferry.
Without the Cincinnati option, a third plant probably would be built and water rates would jump.
"Everyone would have had to bite a big bullet," said Dr. Ronald Crume, chairman of the Boone County-Florence Water Commission. Competing interests and differing priorities sometimes have created strained feelings.
But water is a commodity that has fostered cooperation and a sharing of resources.
"Regional solutions can really help," Mr. Rager said. "There will be a water utility here 100 years from now, and we have to find ways to keep costs down. We don't want residents to pay exorbitant water rates in the distant future because of poor planning today."
