Friday, July 30, 1999
Pretty park replaces city water plant
Pollution closed wells in Reading
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
READING — The last chapter in a decades-old story of the contamination of this city's water well fields and the closing of its water plant has a good ending.
Water Works Park on Walnut Street — paid for with part of a $200,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency — will be dedicated at 1 p.m. on Aug 8. It was formerly dubbed Greenway Quiet Park.
But, neighbors of the 1.5 acre patch of green space that's dominated by a new gazebo and fountain don't need a celebration to be elated. “It's heavenly,” said Doris Parrott, who has lived across from the site for 42 years. “It's so nice to look out front and reminisce about the past. I really appreciate it. It's quiet and it's pretty. Now we have to take care of it.”
Fenton Avenue resident Betty Heimert's back yard abuts the new park.
“The scene from my back window is quite different from the way it was (for years). The shrubbery, the walkways, the gazebo and the fountain are all very pleasing to the eye,” Mrs. Heimert said.
Mayor Earl Schmidt said city employees performed most of the work including putting up the $26,000 gazebo donated by Hoechst Marion Roussel, the city's largest employer.
“The only things we contracted out were installation of the blacktop walkways and the irrigation system. Our people did the plantings, mounding, installation of the brick pavers, picnic tables and benches and the engraved kiosks which tell the history of the city's water and electric plants which were on this site,” said Mr. Schmidt.
“We had city mechanics laying sod. There were 10 city employees and 10 summer employees who did the work. I'd say we got a $300,000 park with $125,000 in grant money,” the mayor said.
The kiosks were designed in cooperation with the Reading Historical Society and trace the history of the water and electric services from the late 1700s until 1992 when the water plant closed. The kiosks also help teach visitors about the long-term damage caused by severe pollution.
The OEPA made the grant money available for the best plan to restore water and soil contaminated by Pristine Inc.
Pristine, a liquid-waste disposal company in the mid-1970s west of Reading Road, was cited by the OEPA for contaminating soil and ground water.
Reading's water wells were contaminated by the company, forcing the city to close them, raze its water treatment plant and contract with Cincinnati for water.
The remaining $75,000 in the OEPA grant not earmarked for the park development has been used to defray the costs the city incurred about six years ago to hook up to the Cincinnati Water Works.
The city's electric plant also stood on the park site from 1893 until it closed in 1943.
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