Public Comment Opportunity: Amending the Regional Water Quality Management Plan – Amendment 47
OKI is considering an amendment to the Regional Water Quality Management (WQM) Plan for an area in Butler County that includes portions of the cities of Fairfield and Hamilton located in the Keisland Business Park Development. Public comment is being gathered on line through OKI’s website.
OKI published the original Regional Water Quality Management (WQM) Plan in 1977, and has periodically made updates to the plan since it was adopted. Such planning is required under Section 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 to assess sources of water pollution and recommend strategies to control them.
The proposed amendment is being requested by OKI so that water quality can be protected, maintained, enhanced and controlled. The amendment would update the boundaries of the Hamilton, Fairfield, and Upper Mill Creek Facility Planning Areas (FPAs) to reflect long standing intergovernmental agreements between the cities of Hamilton and Fairfield and Butler County. Portions of the Kiesland Business Park that are currently designated as part of the Hamilton and Fairfield FPAs and within their municipal boundaries collect and send their waste to the neighboring Upper Mill Creek WRF for treatment. All three jurisdictions established this system through and intergovernmental agreement in the 1980’s.
The amendment would move the areas being served by the Upper Mill Creek WRF from their current FPAs to the Upper Mill Creek FPA to accurately reflect this intergovernmental agreement. It would also identify the cities of Hamilton and Fairfield as sources of flow as well as designated management agencies (DMAs) for collection in the Upper Mill Creek FPA section of Chapter 7 of the WQM Plan.
Public comment on the proposed amendment is being gathered via email. Written comments should be directed to David Rutter of OKI staff and will be accepted until 4 p.m. September 1, 2022.