Recently engineers gave a presentation to the Prescott City Council regarding improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment system.

Already, a $32.9 million expansion of the Airport Wastewater Treatment Plant is in the works, while about $1.8 million in improvements are pending at the aging Sundog Plant.

Officials say the cost of those improvements will be covered by the three-year sewer rate increase that the City Council approved in late 2010. But to bring the treatment system up to the capacity that officials say will be necessary in coming years, the city will have to spend millions more.

The principal/project manager for Water Works Engineers in Scottsdale presented the council with a number of options and phases that would take the city's combined wastewater treatment capacity to about 7.5 MGD — the level that Engineering Services Director Mark Nietupski said would be the next step for the city. Ultimately, officials predict the city will need a capacity of about 15 MGD, but that would be after Prescott has developed to its full potential.

The pending $32.9 million expansion will increase the airport plant's capacity to 3.75 MGD. It currently has a capacity of 1.2 MGD, and is treating about 1.1 MGD.

Among the issues the City Council will have to decide eventually is whether to consolidate its wastewater-treatment operations at the airport plant.

If the city does choose to go the route of centralization to reach the 7.5 MGD level, it would be looking at costs of about $40.7 million, on top of the $32.9 million cost of the pending Airport plant expansion. If the city decided instead to keep both plants, the cost for rebuilding the Sundog Plant and bringing it up to a 3.6 MGD capacity would be $59.6 million.

The presentation noted however, that "centralized treatment will result in more efficient and economic treatment." In an evaluation of costs versus savings from building and operating a centralized plant, the city estimates it would save about 10 percent over the life cycle of a consolidated plant at the airport. The presentation showed a $251 million cost of building and operating a centralized plant, compared with $271.4 million for building and maintaining the two plants.

The necessary improvements first came up in a 2009 wastewater treatment master plan. At that time, consultants identified about $88 million in needed wastewater treatment improvements.

A decision on how to proceed with coming improvements could still be several years away. Officials emphasized that the need for the expanded capacity would depend largely on growth in the community.

Having the Lincoln Wastewater Treatment Plant handle the region’s sewage could cost $12 million.

But thanks to Lincoln city engineer Bruce Burnworth’s efforts, Lincoln could get the $12 million paid back through the state revolving loan if the county decides to hook into the facility.

Fourteen years ago City staff and officials made sure the $85 million wastewater treatment plant that opened in 2004 could handle the region’s future needs. The city also installed over-sized pipes to handle county needs."

Last December county supervisors spent the day discussing a solution. The choices were construct a new pipeline from north Auburn to Lincoln’s treatment plant or upgrade/expand the north Auburn plant.

A county report said the Lincoln option would cost between $91.6 million and $139.3 million. Estimated total cost for the north Auburn plant expansion option was $62.3 million. Meanwhile, the Auburn plant is fined $15,000 monthly because it has not met state and federal requirements.

Supervisors decided at the December meeting to continue studying the regional sewer project between Lincoln, Auburn and north Auburn. The issue will be discussed again on March 13.

Fearing that residents’ money could be flushed down the drain, Auburn city council members stopped short of backing efforts to consolidate the county’s sewage treatment.

After more than three hours of discussion, the council instead adopted a resolution expressing interest in a centralized system to replace Placer County’s seven wastewater treatment agencies.

The project could run up an initial tab of $27.5 million to $37.5 million for the city and raise utility bills nearly 40 percent. But, signaling frustration at county officials for not taking the lead on the sewer, council members amended their resolution to put the onus of funding on the county.

"For the hundredth time, I do think it’s a good idea," Mayor Keith Nesbitt said after multiple presenters spoke on behalf of the concept. But what gave him pause was the prospect of spending millions of dollars on a pipeline that might not pay for itself in the next generation or two.

Under consideration is a proposal by the city of Lincoln, which seeks to build and operate the facility in question. Among other pipelines, Auburn would construct one to link its current wastewater treatment plant to Lincoln’s. It also would contribute $1.8 million to help Lincoln defray the cost of design and environmental studies.

Supporters hope the regional sewer will save money in the long run through economies of scale - that is, more customers sharing the price of a single utility.

The Gilroy City Council recently voted to raise wastewater rates beginning March 1 by five percent and to subsequently raise rates to up to 40 percent over the next five years.

The rates increase will help pay for maintenance for the city’s wastewater utility services. Currently, the South County Regional Wastewater Authority (SCRWA) anticipates a cost of between $4 and $5 million in replacement of minor equipment over the next five years. SCRWA also anticipates the replacement of major equipment, with a price of up to $25 million in the next half decade.

"The most recent study [tells] us that to meet obligations, to meet maintenance and repair projects over the next several years, our savings plan isn’t going to meet that cost," City Administrator Thomas Haglund said.

Barstow City staff will resume operations of the wastewater treatment plant after the contract with the current operators expires at the end of the month.

Operations of the publically-owned wastewater facility have been privatized since 1994. The current operators, United Water, have been contracted since 2003.

After reviewing the cost of renewing the contract, searching for new contracts or managing the operation in house, city staff recommended to the City Council allowing the city take over the facility. Assistant to the City Manager Oliver Chi said staff spent months assessing the cost of managing the facility versus finding another contract and estimated taking over the facility would save $600,000 annually.

Chief Plant Operator Kody Tompkins said he and the facility’s other four employees were excited to work with the city when it takes over Feb. 1.

Built in the 1960s, much of the infrastructure is dated and often needs repairs. Per the contract any repair costing more than $5,000 was to be paid for by the city. As a result many repairs were not made until the machinery failed, costing the city more over all. Preventative maintenance and repairs is one way the city hopes to save money in the future.

The board of directors for the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District voted recently to approve the purchase of two boiler systems for the Valencia Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The boilers are used to produce low-pressure steam that digests sludge. The sludge is then dried and placed in landfills. The current engine used to power the boiler at the plant no longer complies with new air emissions limits.

The project includes replacement of two boiler systems that comply with the more stringent air emission limits and removal of the engine.

The directors approved the lowest of three bids, which came from Lyles Mechanical Co., at a cost of $3.74 million. Engineers had estimated that the new boiler systems would cost about $4 million.

Bids are due February 10, 2012 for a wastewater improvement project in Madison.

For more information go to: www.h2bid.com/procurement-notice-149807.html

Martin County is preparing to break ground on two new additions to its wastewater treatment system.

A master pumping station at Hutchinson Island's Indian River Plantation and a treatment facility in Ocean Breeze Park are both scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

The additional facilities will bring 202 homes in Ocean Breeze Park, 503 Indian River Plantation residences and more than 1,300 new customers from Miles Grant onto the county's regional system, according to John Polley, director of the county's Utilities and Solid Waste Department.

Bids are due March 1, 2012 for the Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facilities Expansion Phase 1.

For more information go to: www.h2bid.com/procurement-notice-149219.html

Bids are due February 16, 2012 for work at the wastewater treatment plant in Twin Falls.

For more information go to: http://www.tfid.org/bids.aspx?bidID=20&PRINT=YES

Pekin officials were pleasantly surprised when they opened the bids for Phase 2-B of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant and found the low bid to be about $2 million less than the city's original estimate.

City Manager Joe Wuellner said the city received two bids for the plant construction — one from Williams Brothers Construction of Peoria for $14.8 million and one from River City Construction of East Peoria for $16.2 million.

The city planned to finance Phase 2-B with a federal low-interest $20 million loan channeled through the Illinois EPA. Wuellner said the city was recently notified that it could only borrow $15 million because the federal government wanted its money channeled through more of the 138 communities that applied for the loans.

"With this bid we are in good shape with the lower loan," said Wuellner. "We may have to do one more loan in 2013 for any overages from the first phase of the project, which came in higher than expected, but we are in good shape.

"And this loan comes with $1 million forgiveness. We will borrow $15 million, but we will only have to pay back $14 million. And the interest rate is good at 2.39 percent, which is a little higher than the Phase 2-A loan. All in all, we are running a little ahead of the game. That will help us keep the user fees steady, or maybe even lower than expected."

Phase 2-A was estimated at $19.7 million. The winning bid for that phase came in at $20.7 million, which was the lowest bid.

The plant, said Wuellner, will meet the needs of the city for the next 40 to 50 years without any major upgrades needed.

Spring Valley City Council is ready to move ahead with wastewater treatment plant improvements, but work to repair damage from 2008 will not begin before this summer.

The council voted to award a $57,500 grant to Chamlin & Associates for design and inspections at the treatment plant. A $750,000 grant is expected to cover the costs of repairing a dike around the lagoon, a culvert and a generator for the plant. Engineer Larry Good said the design work could begin immediately and plans could be ready for bids by late spring or early summer and the project could begin by late summer.

Last year, the Chesterton Utility learned that a 1.2-million gallon storage tank whose construction is mandated by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)—as part of a "long term control plan" (LTCP) to reduce sewage bypasses into the Little Calumet River during heavy rain events—will cost approximately $11.6 million.

But that long term control plan will require other modifications of the wastewater treatment plant as well.

At a recent meeting he Utility Service Board voted to enter into a $6,500 contract with DLZ, under which DLZ will compile a list of all retrofits necessary to comply with the LTCP and an estimated cost of those retrofits.

When completed, that list will be forwarded to the Utility’s contracted financial consultant, London Witte Group of Indianapolis, which in turn will use those hard numbers to determine how exactly the Utility is going to finance the overall LTCP work.

The project timeline is:

• IDEM should complete permitting by June.
• Design: August 2012-July 2013.
• September 2013-March 2014: Funding development
• Bidding and construction: January 2015-June 2016.
• Startup and commissioning: June 2016-December 2017.

The idea behind the tank is to store up to 1.2 million gallons of flow during heavy rain events, pumped to the tank by a lift station on the grounds of the wastewater treatment plant. When the rain has lessened and the plant has caught up, a gravity line will then bleed the excess back to the lift station, to be pumped to the plant for treatment.

Recently, the Iowa City Council approved design details for the Wastewater Treatment Facilities Consolidation Project.

The north plant will be eliminated, and all wastewater treatment operations will be transferred to the south plant.

Every time a heavy rainstorm comes, the city of Davenport has to deal with overflows at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

"There's still some connections that aren't supposed to be there and during heavy rainfall events, a lot of storm water gets into the sanitary lines, and exceeds the capacity of the plant to handle it effectively," Public Works CIP Manager Steve Russell said.

The city is conducting sewer studies to find old cracked pipes in the system, and where storm water lines are still connected with sanitary sewer lines.

The results of the study should be ready by May.

Federal and state agencies are proposing an extension of Baton Rouge's consent decree deadline to allow more time to upgrade its sewage treatment plants and undertake additional projects to mitigate sanitary sewer overflows.

Baton Rouge has been upgrading its North and South treatment plants under a consent decree entered by the court in March 2002 with a deadline of Jan. 1, 2015. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) are suggesting extending the deadline three years, to Jan. 1, 2018.

The extension would include implementation of a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and installation of emergency generators at over 400 pump stations used in the sewage collection system.

Approval by the District Court is required before any modification of the 2002 consent decree would be effective.

Development of a $45 million public water and sewer district to connect utility systems in Bossier Parish is expected begin in 2012, officials say.

The December acquisition of Red Chute Utilities was the parish's first big step in establishing the district. Now the focus has shifted to purchasing the other systems and constructing a collection system and wastewater facility to serve them, said Larry Landry, public utilities director. The parish plans to use revenue bond money to purchase 14 additional systems. Ten, like Red Chute, will be part of a Haughton-Highway 80 collection system while the rest will serve northern Bossier Parish.

The parish plans to improve and maintain the systems while building collection systems and constructing a $10 million to $12 million wastewater treatment plant on the Red River. The necessary sewer pipelines and lift stations to create a Haughton collection system to connect sewer systems to the treatment plant will start this year, Landry said. A second collection system in north Bossier would begin following plant construction.

Plant designs are nearly complete and the parish is waiting for a permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to allow them to discharge into the Red River.

The parish plant is projected to operate at three MGD. Plant construction is expected to start in 2013 and will take approximately 18 months to two years to complete. In 2011, the parish was awarded $9 million in capital outlay money. An additional $6 million is earmarked for future years.

Hat Creek and Cash Point have been identified as potential sites for the plant. Parish officials continue to work with owners of both properties on a potential deal.

With the Chesapeake Bay cleanup at a critical juncture, Gov. Martin O'Malley is calling on Marylanders to double down on their contribution to the effort, proposing to raise the "flush fee" every household pays from $2.50 to $5 a month, on average.

Without the increase, administration officials warn, they face a $385 million shortfall starting this year in the funds needed to upgrade pollution controls at the state's biggest sewage treatment plants — most notably Baltimore's century-old Back River facility, the largest in Maryland.

Upgrades have been completed at 22 of the largest plants so far, while construction is under way at 18 more. The rest are in various stages of planning, design or discussion.

Construction is scheduled to start in earnest later this year at the Back River plant, which treats the accumulated flushes of about 1.3 million city and Baltimore County residents. The plant is the largest single source of nitrogen in Maryland, discharging an average of 145 MGD of wastewater. Only the District of Columbia's Blue Plains treatment plant is a larger contributor to the bay's water woes.

Built in 1907, the Back River facility has been improved and expanded over the years, and removes about 68 percent of the nitrogen in the sewage it treats. Adding more tanks and equipment to remove nitrogen, at a projected cost of more than $400 million, should enable the plant to remove nearly 90 percent of the nitrogen in its discharge, according to city public works officials.

When the work is done, now expected in 2016, that single project should achieve about one-sixth of all the nitrogen reduction needed throughout Maryland to restore the Chesapeake, state officials say.

In 2004, when lawmakers first approved the "flush fee" to upgrade the state's biggest sewage plants, officials estimated it would take about $740 million in all. But the nitrogen-removal technology was new at the time, and overhauls have wound up costing more than projected, officials say. They now figure the total tab will be nearly $1.4 billion.

Gov. O'Malley administration officials have also pledged to upgrade smaller sewage plants to meet the state's pollution-reduction quota under the federally directed bay cleanup effort.

A task force set up by O'Malley to look at bay funding needs, as well as potential limitations on septic systems, recommended gradually tripling the flush fee, raising it to $5 a month at first and then to $7.50 by 2015. The panel proposed using the extra revenue to help local governments pay for retrofitting storm drains and other unfunded projects to reduce polluted rainfall washing off city and suburban streets and buildings.

Bids are due February 17, 2012 for an upgrade to the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Fitchburg.

For more information go to:

http://www.mypublicnotices.com/Fitchburg/PublicNotice.asp?Page=PublicNotice&AdId=2640435

A Sturgis city commission has contracted with Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering to begin a study of wastewater needs for the next 20 years.

The study could lead to a $3 million improvement project. Commissioners recently approved a task order for $43,400 to begin the study. Currently the city’s wastewater collection and treatment system has various areas targeted for improvement.

Jeannette Fenner, DPS superintendent director/IT, said the improvements would address a number of factors. One in particular is a bottleneck developing at the plant in the processing of inorganic material, she said. Over time, the bottleneck could affect other expensive equipment.

Improvements would address a number of factors including replacing outdated equipment and processes, operator safety, increased treatment effectiveness and improved plant capacity to handle future business expansion or development. Areas of improvement would include upgrading the diesel plant lift station and replacing the wastewater treatment plant grit removal system.

City manager Michael Hughes said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Michigan Municipal Bond Authority jointly administer a low interest loan program that allows municipalities to fund wastewater infrastructure projects.

To be considered for this funding, a project must be submitted by July 1, 2012.

Fleis & Vandenbrink will be required to prepare a report identifying wastewater needs for the next 20 years, submit a cost analysis, project background, analysis of alternatives, selecting an alternative, environmental notifications, environmental impacts and public participation.

The St. James City Council members received good news at a recent council meeting. Because the Wastewater Project has been completed and has come in at less than anticipated, dollar wise, a "wishlist" of final upgrades will be added, bringing a total upgrade to the plant.

Council members were told by a Stantec representative that the city had available $144,000 in loan dollars remaining. This would enable them to purchase 2 slush pumps, 1 grit pump, a clarifying shimmer and lighting at the entrance to the facility. Total cost of this equipment and installation is expected to be $132,700.00. Council approved the upgrades. In most cases the pumps are at least twenty years old and need replacing. One pump does not work.

Bids are due February 21, 2012 for final clarifier and digester improvements at the Spring Grove Wastewater Treatment Plant.

For more information go to: www.h2bid.com/procurement-notice-148978.html

Liberty officials could ask voters later this year to approve an approximately $72 million revenue bond issue to build a new wastewater treatment plant.

A simple majority would be needed for passage, according to Assistant Administrator Dan Estes. "This is a big decision, and we don’t want to rush into it," said Mayor Greg Canuteson. "But we have to do something to protect Liberty residents from these enormous rate hikes by Kansas City."

Canuteson said the information from a feasibility study would now be reviewed in depth by the Liberty’s budget committee.

The Utilities Task Force earlier recommended Liberty consider building its own wastewater treatment facility for better local control, efficiency and cost containment. The bonds would be paid off with funds collected from utilities customers.

The feasibility study recently completed by consulting firm HDR Engineering indicated that going to voters may be the best course of action to deal with increasingly higher rates charged by Kansas City to treat Liberty’s sewage. Kansas City is under a federal court mandate to overhaul its aging sewer infrastructure at a cost of an estimated $2.5 billion over 25 years and is passing those costs onto its customers.

The city currently pays Kansas City nearly $4 million annually for wastewater treatment services. According to information compiled by HDR and presented to the council at a work session Jan. 17, that fee could go to $6 million by 2015 and nearly triple to $11.5 million by 2020.

Consultants said one option may be to try to negotiate lower rates from Kansas City. In recent years, Kansas City has been raising its rates by 15 percent annually but has proposed raising the rates by 3 percent between 2021 through 2040. In 1999, Kansas City proposed raising rates by 4 to 5 percent annually but changed that to 15 percent said the project engineer.

For months, Liberty and Gladstone have been attempting to determine just how Kansas City is coming up with the cost for services that it charges the smaller cities. Charlie Stevens, utilities director, said representatives of Liberty and Gladstone met with Kansas City officials Jan. 19 to try again to resolve the impasse and get the information.

If the council decides to seek voter approval and the bond issue passes, the wastewater treatment plant would be built on the southeast tip of Liberty on property the city owns.

Bids are due January 30, 2012 for the Little Blue Valley Sewer District’s Phase 2 Atherton Wastewater Treatment Plant improvement project in Independence.

The project includes improvements to the intermediate pump station, the ultraviolet disinfection building, the sludge dumpster storage building and modifications to the materials handling building, the incineration building and the ash storage basins.

The project is valued at over $50 million.

In 2007 when people living near the River Rock subdivision’s wastewater lagoon outside Belgrade started getting sick; they began asking questions about their drinking water. At that time officials told residents of the River Rock and neighboring subdivisions not to drink their tap water.

Though officials hesitated to blame the elevated levels of nitrates and E. coli bacteria in the wells solely on River Rock’s wastewater treatment facility, state officials told the water and sewer district it must upgrade its system.

The issues around River Rock serve as just one example of several wastewater systems in Gallatin County that need attention.

One of Amsterdam-Churchill’s and Hebgan Lake Estates’ treatment lagoons has been leaking.

In December, a state inspector found that a lagoon at Riverside Country Club was faulty, leaking as much as 7 million gallons of insufficiently treated wastewater into the ground each year.

The same inspector in September found that a system serving Bear Canyon campground east of Bozeman was leaking partially treated wastewater – though nearby wells do not appear affected.

And residents of the Bridger Pines subdivision by Bridger Bowl are seeking a fix for their wastewater system, which has been failing for decades. Meanwhile, other communities without public wastewater facilities want answers to their water quality concerns.

Many of the now-substandard systems were built before statutes protecting water quality were adopted, such as requiring wastewater discharge permits. But regulators are beginning to address the issue.

Gallatin County officials have been inventorying public wastewater systems, while state regulators have begun inspecting them, and communities like Gallatin Gateway are working to raise funds to install public systems where individual septic systems threaten water quality. However, there may be more systems officials have not identified.

Kalispell's wastewater treatment plant currently treats phosphorus and nitrogen, common pollutants found in and around the home. But the state's tightened standards on pollutants and has reduced the amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen that can be discharged from treatment plants. Officials say they cannot meet those standards without costly upgrades.

"We cannot get to where they want us to get to with the technology we have," explained Bill Shaw, Director of Public Works. To meet the standard the city says they would have to install a microfiltration system. Shaw continued, "A microfiltration system would be extremely small filtration ports that the water would be forced through and it would remove almost virtually anything that's left in that water. That's what makes it so extremely expensive. "

That could end up costing tax payers $3 to $4 million. To avoid having to immediately find the money to make the upgrades Kalispell’s Department of Public Works has asked for more time.

Shaw concluded, "What they do here is extremely efficient compared to other plants in Montana, so we're well on our way to being there."

This spring South Sioux City plans to start accepting bids from companies to build a $10 million wastewater treatment plant. Bidding is expected to start in April with a contractor picked by June.

The plant is being designed to treat industrial wastewater from users in the nearby Roth Industrial Park and to handle future users.

The city currently sends wastewater under the Missouri River to be treated at the Sioux City Wastewater Treatment. But South Sioux City officials have publicly raised questions about whether the Sioux City facility could handle additional industrial customers.

Gonzales Cos., of Brentwood, MO, is designing the plant. About 40 percent of the design is finished.

City Public Works Director Bob Livermore said he's applying for state water discharge permits soon.

The plant is scheduled to open in December, 2013.

Grand Island City Council is weighing their wastewater treatment options. Recently, Public Works Director John Collins presented what he called ‘Plan C' to the council.

Instead of the controversial contracting of plant operations to a second party, this plan would put in place an efficiency plan administered by the Public Works Department, also known as ‘Plan B.' ‘

"There's hardly a year that I've been on the council that we haven't hired a consultant for the wastewater treatment plant," said Peg Gilbert, City Council President. "Yet, we're in this place where we've got a lot of stuff that still needs to be fixed and operationally has issues." And she's right, said the financial department, in the past 10 years the city has spent $110 million on the wastewater treatment plant, $3.9 million was spent in the last five years on consulting alone.

Collins' plan focused on an Asset Management system for the city to invest in. He argued that a working system that would take a start up cost between $150,000 and $500,000 would help the city identify problems and become proactive, not reactive to problems. He said that Plan B would be the most cost efficient but the council needs to decide their objective and directive with the wastewater treatment plant to move forward.

The council plans to meet again in January to further discuss the issues.

Newmarket residents told the Budget Committee at their January meeting that they are concerned about another $3.31 tax rate increase.

Consequently, the town council voted to remove the proposals for $12.5 million in upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant and Creighton Street pump station, and a $3.3 million bond for the development of the MacIntosh well from the warrant.

Bids are due February 22, 2012 for cleaning and modifications to the WWTP Digester 2 in Elizabeth.

For more information go to: www.h2bid.com/procurement-notice-149094.html

The city’s wastewater treatment plant could receive $2.6 million in upgrades if a resolution is approved by the Auburn City Council.

Director of Municipal Utilities Vicky Murphy will ask the council to transfer the money from the sewer fund to a capital projects fund to pay for the work, which will satisfy a consent order issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation last summer.

According to Murphy, the DEC issued the consent order for violating the allowed levels of oil, grease and chlorine entering the Owasco River from the treatment plant’s overflow retention facility.

"It was just two or three instances between 2007 and 2009 which really isn’t a lot, but (the DEC) finally just said enough is enough," said Murphy, who took over operations at the treatment plant in 2010. "We haven’t had any problems since I came here, but we have to make these fixes to make sure it doesn’t happen again."

When heavy rains flood the treatment plant with more wastewater than it can immediately clean, the excess is directed to six large overflow tanks to be stored until it can be treated. The overflow tanks were the plant’s primary treatment system decades ago, but were converted to their current use when the city enlarged the plant.

Murphy said the tanks can store about 26 million gallons of water, but if the plant receives more than that, the system is designed to overflow into the river after a basic treatment process that involves the water passing through a series of concrete baffles to remove solids and a chlorination and dechlorination process to eliminate bacteria.

The city only receives enough rain to employ the overflow system about six times each year, and out of those only a very few make it to the river, Murphy said. "The DEC wants us to raise the end walls and put in new baffles so the water doesn’t flow over them and short circuit," Murphy said. "It’s a lot of concrete work, replacing some pumps and sluice gates and adding sprayers to help clean the solids out."

The SCADA system, which electronically controls the plant’s operation will also get a much-needed overhaul.

Preliminary design plans for the construction have been approved by the DEC.

Murphy said soon the final plans will be approved and, if the money is transferred, construction will begin this year and continue until 2014, with most of the major construction completed next year.

New Baltimore will be forming a committee to put together a Request for Proposal for engineering services for their aging wastewater treatment plant.

The plant, which is still physically capable of handling its current load has a number of draw backs.

For the last year, Wastewater Technician Steve Grimm has been conducting a review and status of the plant. He put together a Comprehensive Performance Evaluation (CPE) on the status of the plant as it stands today. The CPE does not just evaluate the physical attributes of the plant but also identifies performance limiting factors, which could limit the performance of the plant.

A few additional suggestions for the plant were brought before the board members as a result of the consistent replacement of equipment at the ever aging treatment plant. Grimm said there was a list of 70 different factors that were evaluated; however, there were a number of factors that he said were more serious, rated as an A, which would have a major effect on a long-term repetitive basis, as well as the B rated factors, which would have a minimum effect on a routine basis for a major effect on a periodic basis.

"The biggest issue that you’ve got right now at the wastewater plant is process control ability," Grimm updated the board. "There is absolutely no way to adequately control the process." Grimm said the pumps to the station are either on or off and that there is no in between, which is a problem.

"The return pumps are rated at 278,000 gallons per day," Grim said, "which is what they can pump maximum. The plant is designed for 60,000 gallons per day." Currently the plant is pumping 20 to 25 thousand gallons per day, but it is returning 278,000 gallons. Overall, almost 300,000 thousand gallons are going through a plant that was designed for 60,000 gallons per day.

Additional A rated items included process automation which is lacking, leaving no way for things to be monitored remotely or for things to turn on automatically at a set time.

The "biggest drawback," according to Grimm and the main B rated issue was the sludge waste incapability. Currently there is one holding tank at the plant for the excess waste sludge and DEC has been asking that that waste tank be put into a secondary clarifier.

The CPE has been made available for anyone interested in seeing some of the additional issues facing the plant and issues being considered for repair and review.

The RFP Committee will aim to meet by mid to late February.

The Oswego Administrative Services Committee voted recently to send a request to authorize the city’s purchasing agent to seek bids for the estimated $8.15 million West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion project.

City Engineer Tony Leotta reminded councilors that time is vital when addressing these projects. "This is one of the principal projects," Leotta said. "It’s approximately an $8 million project. "It’s a two-year construction project, and we must get going with it by April of this year. The project needs to be completed by Nov. 1, 2013. If it’s not done, we will be charged the stipulated penalties. I see no reason why it cannot be completed in two construction seasons, but we have to get the bid out," Leotta advised councilors, adding that there is demolition involved. "All the dinosaur equipment will be removed and (the facility will be upgraded)."

Leotta explained that time was crucial not just to avoid late penalties, but also to take advantage of the $4 million principal forgiveness awarded to the city for this project and the west side sewer separation project. If the project is completed by the deadline, the Environmental Facilities Corp. will forgive the city $4 million in project expenses. That forgiveness would lower the cost of the two projects from a projected $16 million to $12 million.

The West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant project consists of three major general components, including demolition and removal of old obsolete structures and equipment formerly associated with dewatering and incineration of sludge; upgrades to existing equipment and facilities throughout the plant; and installation of new structures and equipment for expansion of the plant to increase wet weather processing capacity rate from 8 MGD to 12 MGD, or a roughly 50 percent increase in capacity.

Councilors approved authorizing the issuance of bonds totaling $8,554,560 for Phase 1 of the sewer separation project. Those funds will be used for the disinfection of CSO outfall at the excess flow monitoring facility. As part of the project, contractors will put in 17,000 linear feet of new storm water sewers, which are supposed to last 40 years. Also covered in the first phase of the project is the authorization of the issuance of $8,150,000 in bonds for West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades and expansion to allow additional pumping capacity. Councilors voted Nov. 21 to seek bids for the first major project of the consent decree.

The legal notices for the project were published Dec. 8, advising bidders that a prebid conference was held on Jan. 5, and that sealed proposals would be received by the purchasing agent until 2 p.m. Jan. 27, at which time they will be publicly opened and read aloud.

Officials from the towns of Norlina, Warrenton and Warren County met earlier this month to receive a report called an asset management plan (AMP) that rated the condition of equipment at the wastewater treatment plant, and included a strategy for operation and maintenance, capital improvements and related financing.

Placed in service in 1980, the plant treats wastewater from the towns of Norlina and Warrenton, and areas in the county including Soul City. The plant is owned by the county, but is operated and maintained by the town of Warrenton. Expenses are divided among the users based on the percentage of total sewage each entity sends to the facility each month.

An engineering report performed in 2007 estimated that a complete overhaul of the wastewater treatment plant would cost around $5 million, and two years ago local officials toured the plant to get a firsthand look at some of the problems.

The computerized monitoring system designed to operate the plant was outdated when it was installed more than 30 years ago and has been inoperable for many years. More importantly, a significant amount of metal on the plant's two clarifiers is corroded or missing altogether. Both clarifiers are listed in the AMP as being in very poor condition. Their failure would be considered catastrophic, resulting in a shutdown of the plant, no service to customers and a likely sewage spill that would contaminate drinking water here and downstream.

In meetings held in January, the governing boards for Warren County, Norlina and Warrenton each adopted resolutions approving the AMP in order to proceed with the county borrowing $867,500 in low-interest money from the state to perform Phase I of the rehab, which will address the clarifiers and monitoring system.

Although the asset management plan estimates that $1.6 million in upgrades will be needed at the plant over the next 10 years, County Manager Linda Worth explained that the plan will be reevaluated each year to determine when additional work can and should be done.

The next step in Phase I rehabilitation is to bid out the project. After a bid is awarded, Worth said that the rehab is expected to take around 40 weeks,

The Williston City Commission approved a low-bid of $704,700 from Magney Construction to make influent and transfer pumping improvements to the city's Wastewater Treatment Facility, which has been running at capacity due to high demand and increased population.

Magney was the lowest of three bidders to complete the entire project. Other bids came from PKG Contracting ($896,000) and Gridor Construction ($1,000,337). The city's consultant on the project, Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc., said probable project cost was $684,000.

The improvements will allow the facility to run better while long-term solutions can still be explored.

The Lorain County Chamber of Commerce will host a meeting to discuss creating a new regional sewer authority for communities in the Black River watershed.

The meeting will summarize the findings of a work group that met last year to analyze how a regional sewer district might work in Lorain County. Supporters of the project seek to eliminate the need for multiple wastewater treatment plants and consolidate sewage treatment into one or two plants.

The consolidation will reduce and stabilize the increase in future sewage rates for residents of Lorain County. Sewage rates are projected to rise alarmingly for area residents in the next five to 15 years in order to pay for improvements and renovations to respective pre-existing waste treatment plants to meet federal regulations and reduce sewage overflows.

Lorain City Council last year approved hiring consulting engineer Malcolm Pirnie to evaluate how the city and its neighboring communities could create a regional district. Lorain city officials have stated they hope to remove the Black River Wastewater Treatment Plant from the city’s lakefront and build a new sewage plant on a site further up the river and behind the steel mills.

After the meeting, the cities will determine a plan to go forward, possibly by mid-year, with court action needed to create the new legal sewer authority.

Myrtle Point City Manager John Walsh said he expects the city’s wastewater treatment plant upgrade project to start next month, when the city seeks bids from contractors on the first of the project's two phases. Phase one, the smaller of the two phases, consists of replacing a pump station and a force main. Walsh hopes phase two, the estimated $10 million construction of a new wastewater facility, should be completed by fall 2013.

The new wastewater facility will replace the existing plant that was built in 1956 and has not been upgraded since the 1970s. The old plant is outdated and does not meet new treatment requirements. The new facility will be built right next to the old one, allowing for more capacity for overflow. The new aerated system, lagoon and treatment process will help reduce contaminants and allow for waste to be treated more efficiently.

Construction of the new facility was made possible when Myrtle Point secured a low-interest loan of $9.5 million from the federal government, as well as a $2.7 million grant. Myrtle Point also has received multiple grants from the state to help offset the cost.

The new facility will also allow for better waste treatment, but it will allow the city to rely more heavily on its own testing rather than having to outsource for better equipment and tests.

Governor Tom Corbett has announced the investment of $98 million in 23 non-point source drinking water, and wastewater projects in 19 counties.

The awards include a $28 million grant/loan combination to upgrade a sewage treatment plant in Clinton County that will allow the plant to eliminate the discharge of partially treated sewage into a local stream as well as come into compliance with its Chesapeake Bay nutrient discharge requirements.

An engineer hired to evaluate the Upper Gwynedd-Towamencin Municipal Authority said recently that the facility might need an expansion to handle future wastewater regulations.

A senior associate from Hazen and Sawyer, recommended that the Upper Gwynedd Board of Commissioners consider a full scale study of the plant’s collection system, including a complete hydraulic model of the system. Book told the board that the township commissioners could need to consider a major infrastructure repair and replacement project within the next 10 years if that is what the study concludes.

The wastewater treatment plant — utilized by Upper Gwynedd and Towamencin townships — can currently handle its discharge flow limit of 7.3 MGD, according to Book. However, he said the facility might not be able to handle nutrient removal requirements due to projected regulations that could increase removal requirements over the next 10 years.

At a special meeting of the town board in December, Ethan Town Board members were presented with financial information regarding an upgrade of the town’s wastewater facility estimated to cost $1,017,870.

The project will include a new lift station pump to be installed at the existing wastewater treatment facility, as well as a system that would allow for emergency discharges of wastewater along a controlled path.

Bids are due February 15, 2012 for Phase 1 of the wastewater treatment project.

For more information go to:

www.h2bid.com/procurement-notice-149748.html

Bids are due February 16, 2012 for a storm drain master plan and capital improvements plan for Springville.

For more information go to: www.h2bid.com/procurement-notice-149826.html