By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Abbott Laboratories plant planned on the north edge of Bowling Green may use up to 1 million gallons of water a day. Abbott plans to invest more than $500 million in the site and create 450 permanent jobs.
So Monday evening, the Bowling Green Board of Public Utilities voted to proceed with a $4 million expansion of the membrane treatment process at the city’s water treatment plant.
In December of 2022, Abbott Laboratories announced Bowling Green was selected for its new specialty and metabolic powder nutritional products manufacturing facility. The city has been working on infrastructure to meet the company’s utility and transportation needs.
The city’s goal is to complete the water treatment plant expansion in 2025, prior to Abbott beginning production sometime in 2026 or 2027.
Bowling Green is also expected to have a new water customer using about 500,000 gallons a day, at the new data center proposed on Ohio 582, served by Northwestern Water and Sewer District.
The utilities board’s votes on Monday evening will allow the city to enter engineering and construction contracts, and to enter a loan agreement for the project from the Ohio Water Development Authority or the Ohio EPA.
Last year, the board gave Public Infrastructure Director Brian O’Connell the green light to get moving on the needed infrastructure – including electric, water, wastewater, and possibly a stoplight at Ohio 25 and Bishop Road.
The Abbott site is over 100 acres at the southeast corner of Route 25 and Nims Road intersection – directly east of the Route 25 and Bishop Road intersection.
Abbott is a global company that designs and produces diagnostic and medical devices and powder nutritional supplements. The Bowling Green plant will produce nutritional products for people with extreme allergies and dietary restrictions.
The city expects to benefit from the infrastructure investments made to accommodate the plant’s needs.
The additional utility sales will help with revenue growth in the utility funds, O’Connell said. The city should also see growth in income tax revenue from the project with the creation of 450 jobs. That revenue will benefit the Water & Sewer Capital Improvement Fund along with the other income tax revenue funds.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the utilities board approved advertising for an engineering firm to study expansion of the city’s raw water reservoir at the water treatment plant on Ohio 65.
Last year, the city bought approximately 39 acres north of the existing reservoir with the anticipation of expanding the reservoir. The current reservoir holds about 170 million gallons, which is about 30 to 40 days or raw water storage.
