New Rules to Regulate City’s Waste Water System

Zanesville City Council held its first meeting of November Monday night.

Council discussed several issues, including an ordinance regarding discharges to the city’s sanitary sewer systems. The ordinance was up for its second reading, and if passed, the law would allow the city’s waste treatment plant to control what’s being discharged into its waste water system. Superintendent, Jerry Ussher, said the new rules were implemented by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

“The industries around the city are not going to see much change from this, the biggest change that we made was that we did have a requirement for permits in place, so that means even though we were making permits, and we have permits for all the major industries in town, we couldn’t really do much for enforcement, so that’s one of the biggest changes,” Ussher said.

Ussher said the new law will prevent industries from dumping something harmful into its waste water system, that could affect, and potentially harm the plant. The ordinance will see its third and final reading in two weeks.