(Toledo, OH) A regional water agreement becomes reality today.
Elected leaders from nine communities, including Toledo, will sign a memorandum of understanding to create the regional water authority during a ceremony at the regional chamber of commerce in downtown Toledo.
After about a year of talks with the help of a mediator, an outside group would control water-related assets after Toledo sold water to suburbs across the region. Water rates may rise to pay for repairs to an aging infrastructure, but the authority is expected to buy the Collins Park water treatment plant from Toledo either up-front or over a 30-year period.
Individual communities must still ratify the agreement between now and mid-March, before a petition is filed in Lucas County court to officially form the regional group.