The board of Conway Corp. has approved proposed wastewater treatment rate increases that would fund construction of the $95 million Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Facility in Lollie Bottoms.

The increased funding would be used to repay a loan from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, fund bond issue payments, support the decommissioning of the 30-year-old Stone Dam Creek facility, pay for a new pumping station on the east side of the city and provide "routine" capital improvements for the new facility. The proposed facility would treat 16 MGD.

Aldermen are expected to schedule a public hearing on the proposed rate increases prior to the council’s meeting on Tuesday, March 27.

The Barstow City Council has hired Carollo Engineering as the city’s wastewater consultant. The move comes in the wake of the city taking control of the wastewater treatment plant after 18 years of private operation.

The company will be brought on as the city’s consulting wastewater engineer but will not complete work unless authorized through a task order from the city for a specific amount.

Carollo’s first task will be to produce a report for $48,648 by April 30 that prioritizes needed capital improvement projects and estimates their price.

City officials say the plant, built in the 1960s, has a host of maintenance needs. The city’s previous contract with United Water mandated that the city pay for repairs costing more than $5,000. As a result, the company had little incentive to make preventative repairs.

The City Council voted to purchase a third blower for the wastewater plant Feb. 6 at a cost of $435,883 so that the plant could operate at full capacity without relying on backup gas powered equipment. It does not operate at full capacity now, but could in the future if the community grows.

It's been five years since Adelanto embarked on a much-needed $14 million expansion of its wastewater plant that has yet to come to fruition.

After a series of technical and communication issues, plans for an innovative new system ultimately failed, and last year city officials found themselves scrambling to block a ban on new sewer connections threatened by the regional water board.

By partnering with a new company to build and run its plant, the city seems to be on track toward solving its wastewater problems. But all the delays have come with a price. The final project and its related costs will cost about $6.5 million more than originally planned.

The City Council is set to finalize a $7 million contract for Costa Mesa-based PERC Water to complete the wastewater plant’s expansion, plus another $500,000 annually to operate the plant. PERC has already begun design work and plans to finish the project within 18 months, for a completion date in fall 2013.

PERC will build off the work of MicroMedia Filtration (MMF), which was first hired in 2007 to do the plant expansion. MMF planned to double the capacity to treat sewage at half the cost of more traditional methods by using less energy. But the effort ran into several obstacles, with the city "separating amicably" from MMF a few months ago after paying only $2.6 million of its $7 million contract.

Meanwhile, the city continues to struggle with insufficient sewage capacity. Adelanto has had to divert up to 800,000 gallons of raw sewage into Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority’s facility since May 2010. With VVWRA charging about $65,000 per month, the city will have spent about $2.5 million in diversion fees by the time the plant expansion is complete.

The final expansion process will cost about $4 million more than initially estimated due to the delays and various necessary steps, such as building more percolation ponds at about $500,000 each.

The city has pledged to finish the expansion no later than 2014 to avoid another threat of a sewer connection ban by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Recently, the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission gave its approval to a plan to upgrade and restore the Mystic Wastewater Treatment Facility.

"Our objective is to bring it up to date," said Stonington Water Pollution Control Authority Director Harold Storrs.

The wastewater treatment facility in Mystic built in 1972, is the oldest plant in town and has not undergone an upgrade or restoration since its founding. The rehabilitation will not significantly increase the footprint of the plant, but will increase the ability of the plant to remove nitrogen and accommodate sewage flow for the next 20 years.

Storrs said the plant currently processes 500,000 to 600,000 gallons per day and 20-year projected growth would have it process 671,000 gallons per day. The plant Storrs said could process up to 800,000 gallons per day.

Storrs said he expects construction to take 30-months.

In November of 2010, Stonington voters approved an $18.3 million special obligation bond for the upgrade of the town’s three sewage treatment plants. The town expects it will take $14.2 of the $18.3 million to renovate the Mystic plant.

Bids came in for Phase II of the construction of the new Wastewater Treatment Facility, but due to complications the Bonifay City Council had to table the awarding of the bid for a meeting to be called at a later date.

A representative of Hatch Mott McDonald of Florida LLC, the city's engineering firm, explained that the policy of the city was to go with the lowest bid, however a complication had come up when the lowest bidder, Royal American Companies, called and announced that there were calculation issues and the bid is a lot more than what was placed.

The council could reject the lowest bidder if it is in the best interest of the city and the council was advised by City Attorney Lucas Taylor to take council with the Department of Environmental Protection before changing their mind from what is seemingly the lowest bid for the next to the lowest bid from L & R.

Council then approved to table the matter till discussions with DEP could be arranged to see how they can move on and will then call a special meeting to decide how the city will proceed.

In Dade City the Mickens-Harper area and the rural estates a few miles away on Powerline and Christian roads both are fighting government plans to build or expand sewer treatment plants in the heart of their communities.

There were no neighborhood meetings to make them aware of plans for a 2 million-gallon holding tank on the baseball field last year. Residents found out about it weeks before the Dade City Commission was scheduled to award a contract. The neighborhood has suffered odor control problems from the tank since it was built

Homeowners along Powerline and Christian roads felt the same level of distrust after they learned Pasco County had bought nearly 300 acres in their rural neighborhood for a future sewer treatment plant to replace the outdated treatment plant in Lacoochee. So far more than 600 people have signed a petition to stop the plant.

Assurances from Pasco Utilities Director Bruce Kennedy that the county would keep a 600-foot buffer around the plant and install odor control devices have done nothing to abate their concerns.

The county residents have been pushing a plan to have Dade City treat the wastewater from Lacoochee. The city's plant is below capacity and could handle the flow from the county. But it also desperately needs repairs and upgrades. "The age of the plant and the age of the equipment have exhausted its useful life," City Manager Billy Poe said. "Right now, you're just running on a Band-Aid and a prayer."

The city was getting ready to award bids for $6 million in improvements to the plant when the controversy about the reclaimed water tank erupted. City commissioners put the project on hold to re-evaluate the situation, but time is critical because the city has a September deadline to spend a $2 million grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District that was earmarked for the project.

The proposal for Dade City to contract with the county for sewage treatment has support. Pasco already provides wastewater treatment to Port Richey, and it co-owns a treatment plant with New Port Richey.

City manager Poe said he sees it as a possible long-term solution, but not as a substitute for the repairs and expansion that already were planned for the city sewer plant. He will ask city commissioners to give him the go-ahead to move forward with the $6 million project and suspend talks with the county until construction is under way.

Bids are due April 12, 2012 for the Phase II improvements to the wastewater treatment plant in Marengo.

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The Salt Creek Sanitary District’s wastewater treatment plant has the ability to successfully treat a wide range of flows, from very low flow to flows 30 percent greater than the design maximum flow of 8 MGD, all while staying in compliance with the NPDES requirements.

The plant’s design consists of rectangular primary clarifiers, activated sludge with fine pore diffusers, two 75 foot diameter final clarifiers, rapid sand filtration (soon to be replaced with disc filters), UV disinfection, two primary anaerobic digesters and one secondary digester used for settling. Sludge processing includes a two-meter belt filter press and drying beds with a covered dewatered sludge holding area having a capacity of approximately 1400 cubic yards. Digester supernatant and belt press filtrate are conveyed to side stream aeration tanks. The side stream flows are aerated and "bled back" to the process. The plant is controlled by a SCADA system and also has a storm water system.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District said a project to make the Chicago River safer for recreation will cost $139 million, far less than the $1 billion once estimated.

Contractors are set to complete the project by 2015, district officials said, much faster than the decade-long schedule outlined in records submitted last year to state regulators. They also said the equipment should cost about $5 million a year to operate, less than half of previous estimates.

David St. Pierre, the district's new executive director, told elected commissioners that spreading the construction costs over three years will enable them to overhaul two massive treatment plants within their routine budget for bricks-and-mortar projects. The work won't cut into money set aside to complete the Deep Tunnel, the district's long-delayed pollution- and flood-control project, St. Pierre said.

Chicago is the only major U.S. city that skips the disinfection step when treating human and industrial waste, largely because officials assumed nobody would want to come near rivers that carry wastewater away from Lake Michigan. But after nearly a decade of debate, the Obama administration last year ordered state and local officials to comply with federal Clean Water Act standards that already apply to most other cities.

The relatively quick response from district officials is a sharp contrast to the last eight years, during which they spent more than $13 million on lawyers and studies challenging a cleanup initiative backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former Mayor Richard Daley, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and other elected officials.

Depending on the time of year, 60 percent to 100 percent of the water in the Chicago River, Little Calumet River and Cal-Sag Channel comes from sewage treatment plants operated by the Water Reclamation District, an independent agency with a $1 billion annual budget funded mostly by federal grants and taxes collected from Chicago and the Cook County suburbs.

Levels of bacteria and other pathogens in the water are so high that signs caution it is unsafe for "any human body contact." The signs are posted next to hundreds of pipes that dump raw sewage and runoff into the waterways after rainstorms, another problem the Deep Tunnel is supposed to mostly eliminate when it is completed by 2029.

To improve water quality, the district plans to zap wastewater at its Calumet plant with chlorine — a process already used at two of the district's smaller treatment plants. The Calumet plant already has a large tank to hold the wastewater long enough for chlorine to kill germs; the toxic chemical will be stripped out before wastewater is pumped into the Little Calumet River.

The North Side plant will rely on ultraviolet radiation, which is a more expensive technology but saves the district the cost of installing a holding tank, St. Pierre said.

District officials shaved hundreds of millions from earlier cost estimates when the U.S. EPA opted not to order disinfection equipment at the region's biggest treatment plant, in Stickney along the heavily industrialized Sanitary and Ship Canal. Surveys show steady recreation on the stretches covered by the EPA order, but not near the Stickney plant.

After St. Pierre directed district engineers to take another look at what it would take to comply with the federal order, the latest plan estimated costs to be about half of a 2011 estimate to clean up the Calumet and North Side plants. The budget is even less than what the EPA suggested it would cost.

The city of Spring Valley has been working with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for months to regain its MPDS permit and is out of compliance for suspended solids in the wastewater.

At a recent meeting of city council, city engineer Jack Kusek explained the plan of using enzymes to clean out a portion of the sludge at the bottom of the wastewater lagoon. The city has 40 years of sludge buildup at the bottom of the wastewater treatment lagoon, and it is the sludge that is likely causing the suspended solids problem. The sludge is filled with bacteria and other solids that have helped the growth of plant life in the water and led to the increase in suspended solids. The city has to get rid of the 72,000 cubic yards of sludge, and the enzymes are the first step.

The city council voted to allow Kusek to solicit bids for the enzyme treatment. Kusek said after six months, he will check the progress of the enzymes and see if they are decreasing the sludge content at a rate comparable with what the winning company had promised.

If so, the city can continue with the program. But if not, then the enzymes are under-performing and the company providing the enzymes will be financially penalized and the city may go with someone else. An Alderman asked if the IEPA would go along with the expected two years to complete the enzymatic process and clean out the sludge.

Mayor Banks didn't believe the IEPA would go along with a two-year plan. Apparently, things have escalated to the point where lawyers with the IEPA and the attorney general's office have become involved. Simply to clean out and dump the sludge could cost more than $3 million, but the enzymes could be a money saver by decreasing the amount of sludge to clean.

The Cape Cod Commission and Water Protection Collaborative are exploring whether a regional wastewater entity would make sense for the area.

Within the year commission and collaborative staff will have held a series of public meetings, evaluated the options for regionalization and, if it makes sense, developed draft legislation to implement the required changes, said Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the collaborative.

"Is regionalization a better, more cost effective and environmentally sound way to do this?" Gottlieb said, framing the question. The towns-going-it-alone model will be compared to a regional authority.

Those on the Cape have long realized that watersheds cross town lines and many communities are contributing to problems across their borders. As early as a decade ago members of the business roundtable spoke about the idea and about what other communities were doing to solve the expensive problem.

Supporters say a regional entity could take a look at the complex issue in a holistic fashion, instead of many separate efforts trying to solve the pollution problem piecemeal.

With up to half of Lowell’s wastewater treatment capacity possibly being used up by storm water, city officials are questioning whether to increase capacity at the city’s sewer treatment plant, or ask residents to disconnect sump pumps from sewer lines.

Those are just two of the potential options, but City Council members heard recently that some effort must be made to address the problem that estimates show about half the waste reaching the city’s sewer treatment plant from some parts of town is actually rainwater being pumped into the system by residential foundation pumps.

Officials first began discussing the issue two years ago but the matter now has sewage rates bumping against the city sewage treatment plant’s 1.5 MGD capacity.

Officials concede they are not certain whether the problem stems from cracked pipes or joints in the system or direct contributions from foundation drains connected to sump pumps. A study of comparing water use to wastewater discharge from three residential homes, however, provides what officials termed strong circumstantial evidence the problem stems from storm water runoff being routed into city sewers.

While the problem likely exists all over town, the primary problem seems to be in the Valley Vista neighborhood on the city’s west side, known to rest on a high water table where even mild rains can activate residential sump pumps.

Major renovations to the city of Ann Arbor's Wastewater Treatment Plant are about to begin and city officials are lining up financing for the project.

The City Council voted recently to authorize the issuance and sale of up to $120 million in revenue bonds.

The bonds are to be issued in two series with the first series scheduled to be issued April 10 in the principal amount of $37 million to finance the first phase. The second series is scheduled to be issued in the first half of calendar year 2013.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has settled an administrative enforcement action against the city of Choteau for wastewater discharge violations on the condition that the city will have a new $7 million to $8.5 million sewage treatment system in place by October 2015.

Mayor Jay Dunckel signed off on the "administrative order on consent" at the council’s Feb. 7 business meeting, and the city is inviting community members to a public presentation on March 20 to explain the enforcement action and what steps the city must take to come into compliance with state wastewater regulations.

Based on the order, "the city must develop plans for replacing the existing treatment facility with a system capable of meeting both current and pending discharge water quality criteria."

In the consent order, DEQ states that between January 2007 and July 2011, the city’s single-cell, 27-acre lagoon violated wastewater effluent standards 151 times — and that 102 of those violations were considered to be in "significant noncompliance" with the city's wastewater discharge permit.

Beginning in September 2010 through to September 2011, DEQ says, the state agency notified the city in writing eight times of the effluent violations — caused because the city’s old lagoon is so diluted with groundwater that it cannot properly treat the raw sewage flowing into the system. The effluent is at times failing to meet treatment standards for biological oxygen demand, pH value, total suspended solids and e. coli bacteria.

If the city does not comply with the consent order, DEQ may file suit against the city in state court and impose additional corrective actions and assess more civil penalties.

Dunckel at the Feb. 7 council meeting said city officials, the city’s retained engineer and the city attorney have been working for more than a year with DEQ over the effluent discharge violations.

The city since 2001 has undertaken two major sewer line renovation projects, designed to replace leaking sewer mains that allow groundwater to infiltrate the system and dilute the lagoon. The city has invested more than $2.7 million into the wastewater treatment system since 2001.

The most recent project included replacing several major sewer lines in town, putting in a new lagoon inflow and outflow, and installing an ultraviolet light disinfection treatment system to kill dangerous bacteria at the lagoon. Since the ultraviolet system was installed in 2010, the city is meeting standards for treatment of e coli bacteria.

Councilman Jim Anderson asked whether DEQ is saying that the only solution is for the city to build a new lagoon.

City Finance Officer Jodi Rogers said the administrative order is requiring a new or improved treatment system that will meet the effluent discharge requirements. The city has to consult with its engineers to determine what system will work here.

The city’s engineer says that while the city’s improvements to the sewer mains have cut out 1 million gallons of infiltration per day, the per-person flows into the lagoon remain more than 200 percent above the typical domestic wastewater flows for a community the size of Choteau. The main reason for this continued high flow into the lagoon is the sump pumps in people’s homes.

The city’s original sewer system was installed in 1918, using nine-inch diameter clay pipes that discharged into Spring Creek. In 1949, the city constructed the current lagoon, located south of town on state lands, and obtained a permit from the state to discharge treated wastewater into the Teton River. Between 2001 and 2010, the city repaired or replaced 21,800 feet of sewer mains to reduce the massive amount of groundwater pouring into the lagoon.

Unfortunately, even with those improvements, the lagoon is still unable to achieve the treatment to meet current or pending regulatory requirements that will go into effect in November 2015.

Project engineer Kevin Johnson with DOWL/HKM in Great Falls says the city needs a new treatment facility to meet all the standards and to allow growth here. "

The solution that Johnson is proposing would include putting in about 5,300 feet of renovated sewer lines and building a new treatment facility located directly south of the existing lagoon, which would be drained and reclaimed.

Multiple projects aimed at improving water and sewer infrastructure in Exeter dominate the warrant awaiting voters.

Five out of the 18 warrant articles are bond articles related to water and sewer projects.

"Many of these projects were presented last year and we really need to keep presenting them," said Public Works Director Jennifer Perry. "They're all needed, and we're going to continue to work with residents to help them understand the importance of the projects."

The following project facts have been provided by the town of Exeter:

Article 5 asks for $6,350,000 for the design and construction of a new groundwater treatment facility at Lary Lane.

Article 6 asks for $2,850,000 for the purpose of making water, sewer, and drainage improvements to the Jady Hill area, including replacement and repair of water and sewer lines to address inflow and infiltration problems to the town's sewer system.

Officials say this project will include substantial rehabilitation and replacement of sewer lines, improved drainage infrastructure, and private lateral work on residential sewer lines and removal of up to 160,000 gallons per day of wet weather infiltration and up to 235,000 gallons per day of inflow and infiltration during peak flows from the town's wastewater system, resulting in less flow to the wastewater treatment plant and decreasing combined sewer overflows that are experienced at the town's diversion structure at the Clemson lagoon.

If approved, the construction on this project will coincide with the Phase I project currently underway. Removal of inflow and infiltration from the collection system could result in the town designing a smaller capacity plant to meet its obligations under the new wastewater discharge permit issued by the EPA.

Article 8 asks for $375,000 for the purpose of creating a Wastewater Facilities Plan to meet the requirements of the town's EPA wastewater discharge permit.

This article will allow the town to begin design on a new wastewater treatment facility, as mandated by the EPA. The town's current lagoon system will not meet the new standards for nitrogen loading as issued in the town's new wastewater discharge permit.

Design must begin on a new facility. If funds are not approved, the town may face fines in the future by not meeting the requirements under the new permit.

Article 9 asks for $284,625 for the purpose of design and construction on a waste stream reduction system at the town's water treatment plant.

This project includes creating a wastewater recycling system at the water treatment plant. Recycling the wastewater from the plant on-site will mean a large reduction in the wastewater going to the wastewater treatment plant to be processed, a cost savings for the ratepayers. The combination of this article, and the Jady Hill improvements, will significantly reduce wastewater flows to the current plant.

Recently, the Administrative Services Committee forwarded three resolutions to accept the low bids for the expansion and upgrade to the West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Blue Heron Construction submitted the low bid for general construction in the amount of $7,485,000 for "the general construction of the West Side Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion and upgrade." The company also submitted the low bid for the alternate East Side Wastewater Treatment Plant (ESWTP) project for $174,000.

The project consists of three major general components, including demolition and removal of 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.

Crane-Hogan Structural Systems, Inc. submitted the next lowest bid for $8.5 million, with an ESWTP bid of $270,633.

A resolution was also forwarded to the full council naming Patricia Electrical Inc. as low bidder for the electrical construction at the plant in the amount of $518,700, with $25,500 for the ESWTP work. Another resolution names J&A Mechanical Contractors Inc. with a bid of $167,000 for the mechanical and $31,800 plumbing portions of the project, to also go before the full council for a vote.

The next lowest bids submitted for the electrical work were Scriba Electric, at $537,000 and $47,000; and for the mechanical work, Leclaire-Fleming Mechanical Contactors at $186,600. There was no other bid submitted for the plumbing portion of the project.

Bids for the first major project of the consent decree were approved by councilors Feb. 14 when construction work proposals were passed for the west side sewer system disinfection project. The low bid submitted for general construction came from C.O. Falter Construction Corp., of Syracuse, totaling $2,747,101. That includes their bid of $2,247,101 plus subcontracted work by local companies J&A Mechanical Contractors Inc. for $44,900 in mechanical work and MEC Electric Inc., which bid $316,750 for electrical work. The plumbing portion of the project has not yet been awarded.

The consent decree is an $87 million agreement between the EPA and the city to rectify problems with its aging sewer system that resulted in noncompliance issues with the state’s water pollution control laws.

Multiple civic groups have formed an alliance aimed at fighting Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s proposal to privatize the county’s three sewage treatment facilities.

The newly formed Nassau County Coalition of Civic Associations (NCCCA) is hoping to mount pressure at halting the privatization proposal, which would involve selling or leasing the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway, Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Wantagh, and Glen Cove Sewage Plant to a private company. Mangano's plan is aimed at helping the county close a more than $300 million deficit.

The coalition includes civic activists from Long Beach, Point Lookout, Island Park, Seaford, Wantagh, Bellmore, North Bellmore and Merrick.

In addition to trying to combat the sewage treatment privatization plan, the NCCCA is also making an effort to improve environmental conditions at the three plants.

Three companies responded to the county's request for proposal (RFP) process with interest in operating the sewage treatment system including England-based Severn Trent PLC; Paris-based Veolia Environment SA, which has its American headquarters in Lombard, IL; and Harrington Park, NJ-based United Water, Inc. Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley was hired by the county as a consultant during the RFP process, which has a March 31 deadline.

In December, Nassau County Legis. Dave Denenberg, D-Merrick, called on Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to investigate the legality of the privatization proposal.

The city of Olean is at a crossroads, as its Department of Public Works is trying to maintain an aging and malfunctioning wastewater treatment plant.

Built back in 1938, the wastewater treatment plant in Olean is in bad condition. One of its three digesters is completely out of commission. DPW officials say the other two are also in need of major repair, and are no longer able to maintain a stable temperature of between 95 and 98 degrees.

"They're old, they're passed their useful life, you know, but structurally they look good, believe it or not, the concrete and the steel that was in that environment is still very good," said Tom Windus, Olean Department Of Public Works director.

To help the plant stay up and running in the short term, crews have replaced pumps, and are monitoring the water levels. Plant officials admit the digesters are also being cleaned for the first time since 1970, yet pose no threat or risk to the community.

As the city explores a more permanent fix, DPW officials are working with engineers on a plan to rehab and upgrade the existing plant. They will then compare that cost with building a new facility. Once all the information is collected, the DPW will present its findings to the city council.

The town of Coeymans and village of Ravena officials met in February with Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) representatives to discuss the next steps in complying with orders to clean-up wastewater violations.

The most recent DEC consent order to the town of Coeymans, dated January 31, pertains to sanitary sewer overflows related to the Coeymans-Ravena Water Pollution Control Plant and specified sewer lines.

DEC Public Information Officer said, "We are currently in settlement negotiations with the village of Ravena regarding similar sewer issues because the two sewer systems are interrelated." Both consent orders have similar language but different problems in each system."

The schedule of compliance requires that within 60 days the town of Coeymans submit to the DEC "an enforceable inter-municipal agreement between respondent (Coeymans) and the Village of Ravena… to address responsibilities as required by their… orders on consent."

Within 90 days, "a plan and schedule for determining what upgrades should be made to the WPCP" as prepared by an engineer. The consent order details that within 120 days an SSO abatement and elimination plan must also be prepared professionally.

The local consent order was one of nine enforcement actions by the DEC in region four, which encompasses Albany, Columbia, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Schoharie counties. The town of Bethlehem was also cited with wastewater violations on January 4, 2012.

The Statesville City Council and top city staff have been discussing options for the Third Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant with representatives from the Asheville-based firm, McGill & Associates P.A.

Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh instructed the engineering firm to come up with a new plan for the Third Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in advance of what one of those working on the project called a "trigger date" coming up in June.

City leaders have good reason to give the matter every bit of the caution that has so far been extended to it, as major upgrades to the facility could cost over $23 million. Just making necessary upgrades to meet new guidelines will cost an estimated $13 million.

At the heart of the matter is the city’s population growth. Based on extrapolations of growth trends, city leaders were thinking Statesville’s population would be approaching the 30,000 mark, but the census counted less than 25,000 people in the city. The city has the capacity to clean the water of its current population.

Third Creek can treat up to four MGD and when the plan for expansion of the plant was first considered, the city was looking at doubling that to 8 MGD. But last year the council instructed McGill to look at an expansion to only 6 MGD.

Moving to an 8 MGD capacity would have cost the city around $31 million. Taking it up to only 6 MGD will cost $23.4 million. Now, a third option has entered the mix: leaving it at the 4 MGD. But, according to McGill engineer Andy Lovingood, even doing that is not going to be cheap. Lovingood said new Environmental Protection Agency limits regarding the release of nutrients back into the creeks, streams and other water basins are approaching and bringing Third Creek into compliance with the new rules will cost between $6 million and $7 million.

On top of that, Statesville Water Resources Director Joe Hudson said repairs and upgrades at the existing plant are in the $3.5 million to $4.5 million range. The plant also needs a new pump, which has a price of $3.5 million. That means, just keeping things as they are will cost the city between $13 million and $15 million.

But that is not all the city council has to take into consideration when it makes it final decision on Third Creek. The city has already paid McGill more than $800,000 just to get things where they are. In addition to design and engineering work, McGill has earned some of that money hurdling the myriad permitting and other bureaucratic hurdles involved in such a project.

McGill told the council that the $23.4 million the city needs for the 6 MGD is waiting for them via a state-backed program that carries only a 2.45 percent interest rate. But it’s kind of an all-or-nothing deal, Lovingood said. The city gets the loan and the permits if it goes for the 6 MGD and takes a chance that the population will catch up with the need in a time-frame that makes it beneficial.

The North County Water & Sewer Authority has announced an agreement has been reached with the town of Greensboro to construct a sewer system to solve the problem of failing septic systems in northern Caroline County.

Authority board members voted unanimously to accept a 25-page wastewater agreement with Greensboro.

The sewer project has been in the works for over a decade.

With the agreement in place, it is anticipated the project's main funding agency, USDA Rural Development, will invite the authority to formally apply for funding within the next couple of months.

Since most of the funding application requirements already are completed, Caroline County planner Leslie Grunden said the formal request for grant funding should be completed easily by providing financial statements from the authority and the town of Greensboro.

At the meeting Tuesday, the authority provided a chart outlining potential service costs.

The planned service district includes residential areas in or in the proximity of Templeville, Marydel, Henderson and Goldsboro, all hooked up to a wastewater treatment plant in Greensboro.

The proposed project also will help Greensboro comply with state mandates requiring enhanced nutrient removal because the small size of the town's current wastewater treatment plant precludes access to priority funding to pay for an upgrade.

Construction is planned to be completed in four phases. Phase 1 will extend service to Goldsboro. Phase 2 will extend service to Henderson, Phase 3 to Marydel and Phase 4 to Templeville.

Helms & Sons Excavating Inc. of Findlay submitted a bid of nearly $1.493 million for construction of the Bascom wastewater treatment plant when bids were opened. The project estimate was $1.5 million.

The Seneca County Commissioners previously approved a bid from Helms for installation of distribution and collection pipes for the treatment plant which was estimated at $2.47 million. Helms came in at $2.32 million.

Reducing the amount of overflow from a city’s combined sewer system is being mandated by the federal government and that will likely require tens of millions of dollars to be spent upgrading Middletown’s system.

The federal EPA estimates that more than 770 U.S. communities depend on combined sewer systems that mix sewage with storm water at times of heavy rainfall or snowmelt. The EPA says the overflows can create serious public health and water quality concerns, contaminating drinking water causing other environmental and public health problems.

There are more than 81 Ohio communities, including Middletown, that require water infrastructure improvements to fix the outdated combined sewer systems. The city’s combined sewer and storm water system is mostly in the western-most third part of the city. U.S. EPA officials are talking with medium-sized cities, like Middletown, and will develop a unique plan for each city, said Public Works and Utilities Director Dave Duritsch. The type of technology to be used and the time frame is being negotiated, and that would dictate costs.

In 2000, the city submitted a plan that would spend $20 million over 23 years, but the state came back twice with additions to the city’s plan. The first revision in 2004 would have required the city to spend $60 million over 15 years, Duritsch said. The second revision, which was in 2007, would have required the city to spend $128 million over 20 years.

That last revision, which equated to be $6.4 million a year, was "not affordable from our position," Duritsch said. The city’s combined system brings sewage to the wastewater treatment plant, but in the case of a significant storm the overflow would be discharged directly to the Great Miami River. The ultimate goal is to reduce or eliminate sewer overflows into the river during significant rain events, Durtisch said.

There are a number of avenues the city can take in order to reduce the diluted pollutants being sent to the river. The most typical "broad brush" ways to address the issue include splitting the lines, which is the most costly; build a new line and divert the flow back to the wastewater treatment plant but that requires an expansion of the plant; or build an end of pipe treatment plant that could treat the combined affluent before it’s discharged into the river.

The Emerick Construction Company is requesting sub-bids for work at the Columbia Blvd. Wastewater Treatment Plant in Portland.

For more information go to: http://www.theskanner.com/article/Sub-Bids-Requested-Columbia-Blvd-Wastewater-Treatment-Plant-Support-Facility-Portland-OR-2012-03-07

Coos Bay is working on expanding its wastewater treatment plant No. 2.

The expansion project will provide Coos Bay with an upgraded treatment plant that will satisfy current regulations and bring the city back into compliance with state and federal water quality requirements.

The Abington Regional Wastewater Authority has begun improvements to its sewage treatment plant.

The Authority manages wastewater treatment for much of the Abington area. The Authority has purchased the land across the street from the treatment plant, and the group is currently applying for permits to begin construction on an expansion.

The Abington plant is having major infiltration problems. A majority of the area’s underground collection system was built as early as the 1930s, and as a result they are crumbling and creating leaks. The groundwater is getting into the sewage system through the leaks and causing the infiltration. These leaks can increase the flow of liquid to the plant from about 3 MGD to almost 19 MGD.

The plant expansion will allow the plant to begin handling infiltration. The cracked pipes also forced the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to put a moratorium on new sewer hookups in the Abingtons, which halted construction in the area.

The expansion will also help the area meet its Chesapeake Bay Initiative state requirements. The Chesapeake Bay Initiative requires sewage treatment plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous they allow to be discharged into the watershed.

Construction should begin next year and be completed by 2015. The project will cost an estimated $34 million.

Residents of North Whitehall are speaking out against a proposed wastewater treatment plant.

It's called Act 537 and according to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Act 537 "was enacted to correct existing sewage disposal problems… and requires planning in all types of sewage disposal situations."

North Whitehall Township Supervisors adopted the current Act 537 plan in December 2009. The plan proposed a large sewage treatment facility be put in place within the township. The plant was supposed to be installed in stages, beginning with 200,000 gallons, to 550,000 gallons to eventually a 900,000 gallon capable facility.

The plan for the large plant anticipated a growth rate within the township, which has not occurred and the current Act 537 plan in place has many inconsistencies and basic flaws.

The Supervisors discussed revising or revoking the Act 537 at a previous meeting but North Whitehall’s Attorney stated, "The DEP would approach us if we did not have a plan in place."

The township does not want to build, own and operate a plant if it does not have enough customers.

The Lehigh County Authority (LCA) requested a meeting with the township. The 537 plan means centralizing a wastewater treatment plant at one location and getting all the sewage to that location. But supervisors and residents think that is not a good idea.

An upcoming meeting with the LCA may tell the township more about what is going to happen with the possibility of a plant.

The Bonney Lake City Council approved an agreement with the city of Sumner that will provide for the expansion of the joint wastewater treatment facility in exchange for Bonney Lake dropping its appeal of Sumner's Orton Junction UGA expansion.

The expansion will provide an additional 2.3 MGD of treatment.

According to the agreement, Bonney Lake will retain the rights to an additional 1.6 MGD of treatment capacity and pay for a percentage of the project matching that amount.

The expansion project is expected to cost approximately $10 million.

The Grays Harbor County commissioners have awarded Rognlin’s Inc. of Aberdeen the contract for the expansion of their wastewater treatment plant.

Out of nine bidders Rognlin’s bid $2.753 million for the project, narrowly beating out a Tacoma company that bid $10,724 more. The original estimate for the project was $3.5 million.

Work will start as soon as possible.

Work on the sewer project in the town of Leon is continuing ahead of schedule. All the sewer project’s paperwork has been filed and the property acquisitions are almost complete.

"We are hoping to go to bid within the next three weeks to a month," said Mayor Riffle.

According to Fred Hypes of Dunn Engineering, the wastewater collection and treatment system is being funded through a small cities block grant, the West Virginia IJDC Grant and the West Virginia State Revolving Fund Grant, with the total cost estimated at $3.7 million. When complete, the treatment system will serve 163 customers in Leon.

Riffle said the project was ahead of schedule and that he was excited for construction to begin.

Graham Construction and Engineering of Mississauga has been selected by the Cornwall to build the new $49million wastewater treatment plant.

The successful bidder is a joint venture comprised of the firms of Graham Construction and Engineering LP (by its general partner Graham Construction and Engineering Inc.) and Jardeg Construction Services Ltd. Work will begin this spring and it is expected to take two years to complete.

The project consists of a number of upgrades to the existing wastewater treatment plant and a pumping station. The scope of work is wide-ranging and includes new construction, renovation of existing facilities, earthworks, extensive concrete works, sub-contracting with preselected specialty equipment suppliers, mechanical equipment, electrical modifications and improvements as well as the supply and installation of various instrumentation and control panels.

"This upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant will use the latest treatment and monitoring technology and is designed to meet stringent environmental requirements," said Norm Levac, general manager of infrastructure and municipal works.

The project has a total value of $55.5 million (including taxes), and the city, provincial government and federal government are each contributing $18.5 million. The city has already set aside nearly $4 million in reserves to assist with its share of the project, and the $18.5 million contribution will be funded through a combination of reserves and long-term borrowing.

The bids for the project came in under budget, and as a result, officials have been able to reintroduce some additional treatment plant components that were previously removed to ensure that the cost remained within budget.

Tenders for sanitary sewers in Formosa and Teeswater and a wastewater treatment plant have come in well under budget.

Chief administrative officer Sharon Chambers announced that the winning bids were more than $3.7 million lower than the municipal engineers estimate of $25 million.

The sewage treatment plant is to be built on municipally owned land near Teeswater but between the two communities.

The contracts do not include the cost of engineering and buying property for pumping stations in Teeswater and Formosa. Separate contracts will be let for construction of the sanitary sewers in Formosa and Teeswater. A third contractor will build the sewage treatment plant. Approximately 4.7 kilometres of water main in Teeswater will be replaced.

Chambers said everything is in place to begin construction except for a permit to take water from some of the excavation sites. So we’re going to award the contracts on March 27 [pending approval for water taking]," Chambers said.

You can track all the water chemical bids in the new database in the report at:

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/TofC.htm

Here are the titles added since the last update.

Mattoon, IL

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1985

Omaha, NE

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1987

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1986

Morrisville, PA

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1989

Cornwall, ONT.

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1990

Picton, ONT

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=1988

E-mail: editor@mcilvainecompany.com