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The Little Miami Conservancy plans to turn bad into good after Evans' illegal waste dumping

Loveland High School kayak float
Little Miami Conservancy
The Loveland High School kayak float is just one of many activities organized by the Little Miami Conservancy to educate, restore and protect the river.

The Ohio EPA is holding Doug Evans of Evans Landscaping to a tight timeline after ordering the company to cleanup and do water testing on sites where it illegally dumped construction and demolition debris.

According to a consent decree filed in Hamilton County Court, in the next two months, Evans Landscaping must build one groundwater well, repair another, and start testing water quality near 4229 Round Bottom Road. By the end of November, at 8361 Broadwell, it must dig out and remove illegally disposed waste. And by the end of the year, the company will build a cap over 4455 Mt. Carmel Road to keep water from contamination.

Evans was also fined $550,000. The Little Miami Conservancy will get one-fourth of the money — $137,500.

Conservancy Executive Director Jason Brownknight is glad the company has been ordered to cleanup the sites.

“If the defendant follows the timeline and implements what they put in place, we do feel that would be a big improvement to addressing the issues," he says.

Brownknight is making plans on how the conservancy will spend the money.

“The projects that we will be looking to use these funds toward will all be in Hamilton County to benefit those residents and we can do that by doing projects that will protect, preserve habitat and help with clean water improvements by planting trees.”

The organization also funds education programs and research.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.