EATON TWP. — The Lorain County Rural Wastewater District will have $5 million less to worry about when it comes to funding its first sewer project.

LORCO received a $5 million grant to help fund construction of the sewer it plans to build in parts of Eaton and Carlisle townships and run to the Avon Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“It’s a very good thing,” LORCO President Jim McConnell said.

The money should help defray the costs of the controversial project and what residents will ultimately end up paying for the sewer, although just how much savings that will be has yet to be worked out, he said.

Bids for building the 37½ miles of pipe needed for the project, which LORCO hopes to begin this spring, came in at $14 million — $7 million less than the original $21 million estimate.

The total project, including construction, land acquisition, legal expenses and administrative costs, was originally estimated at between $33 million to $36 million. The final cost hasn’t been determined.

“Everything we do is with the intention of doing it at the lowest cost we can,” McConnell said.

Two residents have sued LORCO in an effort to stop the project from moving forward, saying it is not needed and LORCO is operating illegally.

LORCO wasn’t alone in picking up federal stimulus money for sewer projects, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Copley Township.

The release said Amherst will receive $100,000 for sanitary sewer lining on Cooper Foster Park Road. Wellington will receive $255,225 for sanitary sewer replacement on Lincoln Street.

Wellington Mayor Barbara O’Keefe said the project is needed and will likely be done this summer in connection with work on the road itself.

The grants, which were awarded through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

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