Plans to upgrade the wastewater treatment facility in Cambridge continue to move forward.

During the July Cambridge City Council meeting, the council approved to move forward in the process by having SEH prepare plans and specifications for the needed improvements for a fee of $986,800. The cost of the work has been budgeted for and is included in the Wastewater Capital Improvement Plan.

Utilities Director Todd Schwab explained the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) issued a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit on Oct. 13, 2011. In that new permit, a phosphorus limit was given to the facility and the new limit must be met by May 31, 2015 and could not be met with the current facility. A new facility plan was needed to determine what upgrades would be needed to meet the new limit. The plan was submitted to the MPCA and approved.

Upgrades include the addition of a new oxidation ditch to replace the capacity of the north plant, addition of facilities and equipment for chemical phosphorus removal, converting the existing secondary digester to a primary digester and adding a new sludge storage tank.

SEH anticipates having the plans and specifications ready to go out for bids in the spring of 2013.

The council also approved applying to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority for a Phosphorus Reduction Grant to help pay for the cost of the wastewater treatment projects.

Come October, DeSoto County could have a new wastewater treatment operator following action by the DeSoto County Regional Utility Authority (DCRUA).

DCRUA members awarded a bid for operations of both its existing Short Fork Creek Wastewater Plant and the not yet completed Johnson Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Houston, Texas-based Severn Trent.

Tracy Huffman with Waggoner Engineering and the DCRUA engineering consultant said the existing contract with United Water expires on Sept. 30.The bid was awarded pending final negotiations, according to Huffman.

Severn Trent submitted a bid of $878,230, and the current wastewater treatment operator United Water submitted a bid of $1.01 million.

United Water is the operator at both Short Fork and first-phase interceptor systems which will lead into the still-incomplete Johnson Creek facility.

Johnson Creek is expected to be completed in the summer of 2013.

In other matters, construction bids will be opened in July for the on-site expansion for the Short Fork Creek Wastewater facility.

The Short Fork Creek Wastewater facility is being expanded from treatment of 4 MGD, to 8 MGD.

St. Louis-based KCI Construction is set to be awarded a $55.6 million contract to build Cape Girardeau's new wastewater treatment plant, an amount city officials said could hold the line on another sewer rate increase while still providing a facility to bring the city into compliance with federal and state treatment regulations.

The Cape Girardeau City Council will consider a resolution to authorize an agreement with KCI, whose bid was the lowest of five and about $8 million less than an engineering firm's construction estimate of $63 million. If the council approves, work on the two-year project is slated to start late in August.

Public Works Director Tim Gramling said while the low bid was a "positive one," he had still been hopeful it would have come in even lower. But after he talked with those at Jacobs Engineering, which designed the new plant, he was told that the bid was an acceptable one.

KCI was one of 12 companies that had been prequalified. Twelve companies were prequalified but only five submitted bids. The bids ranged from KCI's low to a high of $63.7 million for the construction of the new plant as well as the decommissioning and partial demolition of the existing plant.

KCI, founded in 1922, is currently working on a $54 million expansion of the wastewater treatment plant in Columbia, MO, to increase plant capacity there. The company has also done projects for the St. Louis Zoo, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

In light of the low bid and the approval of the loans, Gramling said city officials didn't think they'd have to raise rates as high as they originally anticipated. Jacobs Engineering has been tasked to do an analysis to see if there is a need for additional increases, Gramling said. A few variables remain, Gramling said, including other improvements to the wastewater collection system and to the inflow and infiltration systems to prevent stormwater or groundwater from getting into the sewer system.

The roughly $10 million for those improvements is covered by the state revolving fund loans but are not part of the KCI contract, Gramling said. Also, the soil conditions at the site of the new plant are unknown and sometimes can cause a bid overrun during the foundation work, he said.

"Some things you just don't anticipate," Gramling said. "We want to wait to get past that first phase before we dive into other things, just so the treatment plant cost doesn't get driven way up because of that."

KCI will be on a tight deadline to complete the project by June 2014, a time frame that has been put in place by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The current plant is over its 7 MGD capacity. During peak usage times, such as after heavy rains, untreated sewage is dumped into the Mississippi River about 30 to 40 times a year.

These violations resulted in the city paying a $15,000 civil penalty. The city agreed to build a new wastewater treatment facility by June 2014 to avoid further fines as well as build an $111,000 supplemental environmental project.

The new plant is designed to handle an average flow of 11 MGD and a peak capacity of 50 MGD. Jacobs Engineering has said the new plant is projected to handle wastewater for at least 20 years, with the actual structure expected to last 50 years with room for expansion.

Gordonville residents greeted the news of a sewer rate increase recently with exasperation and disbelief, questioning how a barely 3-year-old wastewater treatment facility that is costing them $2.5 million is already in need of replacement parts, repairs and a growing list of maintenance projects.

Village leaders said they were still researching remedies and attempting to figure out what is exactly wrong. Litigation against the contractor is pending, as well, with some in attendance insisting the system could not have been built to specifications.

At the meeting's outset, Mayor J.D. King told residents that a rate increase of about $26 a month is necessary because the city isn't bringing in enough money to pay off the debt incurred when the system was installed.

Waters Engineering of Sikeston, MO, received the contract to design the facility and KJACS Contractors Inc. of Poplar Bluff, MO, built the system, which routes the wastewater from each resident's septic tank to the facility and its three-cell septic tank, a series of filters and the recirculation and dosing tanks.

The facility's design flow is 64,500 gallons per day and the design sludge production is 12.9 tons per year, according to data provided by the Department of Natural Resources. The relatively new system is already seeing several problems, such as motors that were supposed to last nine or ten years going out. They've already replaced several, at $7,000 apiece, and two are down now, though he said each motor has a backup.

City attorney Stephen Southard said litigation is pending between the contractor and the city, as well as a countersuit. The city has not made its most recent payment to the company because the work isn't finished. Southard said the board could not comment on the lawsuit.

The city of Crete has received $8.7 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build a new wastewater treatment plant.

A report prepared for the city last year indicates that the original wastewater treatment facility was constructed in 1974. It concludes that the city's requirements to comply with federal regulations necessitate improvement, expansion, or replacement of the plant.

Cost estimates ranged from $7 million to $10 million.

Two months after voters blocked Hopewell Township from funding the installation of sewers in the southern end of town, the township committee is exploring other wastewater treatment options for an affordable housing development planned for that area.

The committee agreed to empanel a group to look at new eco-friendly wastewater treatment methods and other alternatives to the costly sewer plan that voters overwhelmingly defeated in a May referendum.

The referendum stopped the township from spending $4 million to reserve capacity at the Ewing Lawrence Sewerage Authority in what would have been the first step toward bringing sewer lines to the southern end. The sewers would have provided service to a 180-unit affordable housing development and to businesses with failing septic systems.

Now the township is left to figure out how to build the project, and other low- and moderate-income housing required by law, without sewers.

Jim Waltman, executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, urged the committee to look at green technologies like the wetlands-based systems the watershed association is implementing. The committee members all agreed that exploring earth-friendly options makes sense, especially given the strides in technology that have been made in the decade since the township explored sewer alternatives for its failing septic systems.

While the township committee has not backed off the idea of bringing in sewers, that plan has been put on the back burner.

The township will also look at sewer options for other areas of town, including a planned commercial/residential development and neighborhoods with failing septic systems.

San Juan County is preparing a plan that details its priorities for infrastructure improvement projects in the next five years. All local governments are required to submit plans to the state each year that specify large projects that may be on the horizon in order of importance.

The list of projects the county submitted to the state last year considered Phase One of a Flora Vista wastewater system as the county's priority project for the 2013 fiscal year, which started in July. The initial phase of the project, extending sewer lines in Farmington about three miles to Flora Vista, would cost about $9.1 million, said Mike Stark, the county operations officer. That project tops the list again this year.

The second most important project to the county is a wastewater improvement project for the Lower Valley Mutual Domestic Water Association. The association is a neighborhood in Kirtland that uses an open-water lagoon to treat wastewater.

The lagoon has threatened to spill sewage into the San Juan River three times in the last four winters and the county declared it an emergency and used county funds to pump the lagoon. The New Mexico Environment Department has notified the association's members it will not re-permit the lagoon as a wastewater treatment system once the lagoon's current permit expires in December 2014.

It would cost an estimated $2.9 million to build a lift station so the community could tap into the Kirtland sewer system.

A Lee Acres Wastewater Treatment System is another wastewater project the county will prioritize in coming years. The county is interested in extending sewer systems to unincorporated areas, to attract businesses to parts of the county and reduce the number of homes who rely on septic systems.

The county is updating its priority list for fiscal years 2014 through 2018. San Juan County Commissioners will have to approve the priority list before it is submitted to the state in October.

The county gathered state and federal funds to build the $4 million Valley Water and Sanitation District's sewer system in Kirtland. The sewer started operating in November. There are 16 customers hooked up to the system and several other customers have started construction. Other businesses are developing engineering plans to hook up to the sewer, said Mark Duncan, the chairman of the board for the water and sanitation district.

Though no residences have sewer service in Kirtland, high-volume businesses and buildings are taking advantage of the sewer.

Work on a Preliminary Engineering Report for updates to New Baltimore’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is underway weeks after Delaware Engineering was awarded the project by the town board. The report will give an overview of repairs and replacements needed at the facility.

The project was put out to bid and Delaware Engineering was awarded the project after their June 21 presentation to the town board.

Much of the 30-year-old plant’s equipment is still working but it is approaching the end of its life cycle, according to New Baltimore Town Supervisor Susan O’Rorke, thus the need for repairs and possible upgrades.

Additionally, the town is interested in making a more energy efficient plant, something that grants can provide funding for, while also looking at state Department of Environmental Conservation requirements.

With this Preliminary Engineering Report, Delaware will examine the plant and provide the town with a variety of options.

The grant work as already been sent in and O’Rorke said she anticipates the firm to be back in front of the town in the next 60 days or so to report. Then the town can take a look and decide what direction they feel is best.

Lake George officials are moving forward with upgrades to the village’s wastewater treatment facility after several years of trying to raise enough money.

One monitoring well outside the facility has detected groundwater in recent years that occasionally exceeds the maximum level of nitrates allowed by the state.

The Village Board recently accepted a bid for roughly $88,000 from Chazen Engineering to design improvements to correct inadequacies in the treatment process at the plant.

"We wanted to correct it three or four years ago when it first showed up," Lake George Village Mayor Robert Blais said.

Village officials received a $1.9 million quote last year for upgrades at the plant. The village received a $600,000 grant and a low-interest loan for the remainder of the cost. They were prepared to put the project out to bid when they were told by engineers there was a mistake in the calculations and the cost would exceed $3 million.

"We said that was impossible," Blais said. "We decided we need some new eyes looking at the project. We’re starting over."

Chazen Engineering is expected to find a solution for the problem and put together a design for a project that will go out to bid.

Tim Shudt, chief operator of the village’s wastewater treatment plant, was unsure of the timeline for the project, but he said he hopes the improvements can be made in early spring of 2013. There would likely be changes made to the sand beds near the facility to decrease nitrate levels, he said. Instead of discharging the treated water into a nearby river or stream, the Lake George facility channels the water into sand beds. The water then permeates into the ground. It's generally a more challenging and labor-intensive system because the sand beds require maintenance", Shudt said. "Chazen has experience working with systems like the village's," Blais said.

A series of monitoring wells around the plant are constantly testing to make sure the liquid leaving the sand beds is free of anything that could be damaging to the area. But nitrate levels measured by one of the eight monitoring wells have continued to exceed the state standards, most often during the winter.

The plant is usually getting less use in the winter and is therefore more efficient, which speeds up the nitrification process, Shudt said.

Richmond County will be receiving federal funding to expand its wastewater treatment plant, according to an announcement made by U.S. Representative Larry Kissell.

The funding was secured through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program to provide assistance for public facilities.

The project will include the construction of a three-story addition to the existing control building, two new sedimentation basins, three flocculation basins, filters with media, clarifier, flash mixer, air scour in all plant filters, air condition filter system, various new electrical and mechanical controls, piping, yard lighting, and necessary appurtenances.

It is part of an overall project totaling more than $5.8 million, paid for by a mix of grants and a loan.

Recently the results of an environmental study at the site of the new Long Grove Wastewater Treatment Plant were presented during a public hearing. Garver Engineering, the city’s engineering firm presented the results of the study, which involved multiple agencies and found there was no impact on the city.

Despite the finding, several nearby residents voiced their concerns about noise and odor. But City Manager Ian O’Neal estimated the plant would be placed 200 yards from the nearest residence. A representative from Garver Engineering said the city asked for additional measures to contain those two problems and went above and beyond what is requested by the Department of Environmental Quality in implementing them.

The representative said he couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be any odors and said there would be noise. Graves also said there would be some dust during construction but there are dust control requirements in place.

He also said the water would be effluent and meets certain discharge requirements. It would be improved water over that which is discharged from cattle further down the creek.

The city is currently under a consent order because its current collection system is unequal to the task of keeping up with current water flow. The three lagoons are in fair to poor condition and exceeding capacity because of population growth, according to Garver Engineering. The system is unable to meet Oklahoma Permit requirements.

In addition to the new treatment plant, seven miles of sanitary sewer main will be installed as well as two new lift stations.

Bidding is slated to begin in August and construction in September.

The cost of the project was quoted at $13.7 million and will be paid off during a 30-year period.

West Norriton officials have a May 2011 feasibility study that recommends construction of a separate sewage treatment plant in West Norriton that would free the township from paying Norristown to treat West Norriton effluent.

The study recommended a sequence batch reactor (SBR) design with a "present worth" cost of $37.3 million, with annual operating and maintenance costs of $1 million. West Norriton currently pays 36 percent of all associated costs to operate the Norristown sewage treatment plant under a long-standing contract. If the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requires Norristown to improve its treatment of effluent, West Norriton will have to pay its share of those additional costs.

West Norriton’s share of a new sewage treatment plant in Norristown ($150 million) was estimated to be a minimum of $54 million based on the most recent estimates. Annual operating and maintenance costs would add $1.5 million. The May 2011 feasibility study assumed that Norristown would be required by DEP to build a new treatment plant at an estimated cost of $150 million.

Norristown officials have been working toward building a new treatment plant 2,000 feet downstream from the existing plant. The one-inch thick feasibility study by Rettew of Lancaster examined five potential sites in West Norriton for the treatment plant and recommended top consideration for two sites.

The Rittenhouse pump station on 2.5 acres is one of two recommended sites for the proposed West Norriton treatment plant. It is surrounded on three sides by single-family homes and apartment/condominiums "so odor control needs to be considered," the study said. The township may be able to purchase adjacent land to expand the size of the site.

The other recommended site is 30 acres on nearby Barbadoes Island. The Brownfield site in the middle of the Schuylkill River may require remediation or have deed restrictions on its re-use.

The pump station is the "preferred site to locate a wastewater treatment plant," the study said. Half the township’s wastewater currently flows by gravity to the pump station.

The Scranton Sewer Authority has adopted a 25-year improvement plan to reduce the amount of stormwater inflow into their wastewater treatment plant, which during periods of heavy rain is overburdened.

The authority is working with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Justice to improve the system and reduce the amount of undertreated wastewater that flows into the Lackawanna River and, ultimately, into the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

Recently, a 45 percent sewer rate increase designated for the $23 million federally mandated upgrade of the sewer treatment plant took effect.

Part of the project was awarded to L J Milo Enterprises Inc., of Clarks Summit, which entered the lowest of nine bids on the project at $636,670. The project will improve service to the plant. The bids on the project, which were opened July 19, ranged from Milo's bid to a high bid of $884,700.

Authority engineer John Pocius recommended awarding the bid to Milo. An alternate to the bid, to conduct the work at night on off-hours, resulted in addition of between $15,000 and $106,000 to the project costs. Mr. Pocius, however, said the project should be able to be completed during the day time with adequate traffic controls. The alternate was not part of the award.

Upgrades proposed at Littlestown's wastewater treatment plant have gone out to bid, although the borough has not yet secured financing for the $7.28 million project.

Bidding was advertised in July with interested contractors required to submit bids by Aug. 24.

Several Western Pennsylvania authorities and water companies will receive part of $87 million in grants or low-interest loans to upgrade water and wastewater infrastructure.

Among the projects:

• Beaver County: The Rochester Borough Sewer and Maintenance Authority received nearly $1.4 million in grants and a $1.15 million loan to install more than a mile of sanitary and storm sewers to eliminate sewage runoff into McKinley Run, Beaver Run and the Ohio River.

• Butler County: The Buffalo Township Municipal Authority received a $1.56 million loan to expand a treatment plant and upgrade a pumping station to increase capacity and eliminate overflow.

A delay in the review process for the Clearfield Municipal Authority's (CMA) new wastewater treatment plant could cost the authority thousands of dollars.

At a recent CMA meeting a project engineer with Gwin, Dobson & Foreman Inc. of Altoona reported the state Department of Environmental Protection has suspended review of its plans for its new $20-$25 million wastewater treatment plant and has asked for additional information.

The DEP is asking for additional information/clarification on several items such as how the plant relates to Clearfield Borough and Lawrence Township's flow data, additional planning under Act 537 and whether the CMA has received clearance from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for the site.

Because it is breaking new ground for the new plant, the CMA was required to hire an archeologist to perform an archeological study on the site to make sure there are not any historically significant artifacts on the site. CMA manager Jeff Williams said the archeological studies have been completed and the archeologist has informed the DEP verbally that nothing was found, but hasn't yet completed the final written report. But Williams said they believe this is no reason for the DEP to stop the review process and said it should continue with other areas of the review process until the final written report is completed.

As for the other items the DEP is requesting, Williams said the CMA is designing the plant to have enough capacity to handle all the flows from the township and the borough so this isn't an issue and said the CMA already has a letter from the DEP saying they don't need to do an Act 537 plan for the project.

According to CMA board member Charles Ross, in the DEP's letter it is claiming the CMA has increased the scope of work of the plant, that's why they are now saying an Act 537 Plan is needed; however, Williams said the scope of work has not increased.

Williams said he believes the problem has arisen partly because many of the DEP officials who were in place when they started the project five years ago have are no longer there and the new people don't know what has happened previously.

To clear things up, Potopa said they have requested a face-to-face meeting with all the principals involved to get these issues cleared up as soon as possible because any further delay could jeopardize the CMA being able to apply for funding from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority at its Aug. 22 meeting. The CMA is hoping to finance the project with a low-interest loan from PENNVEST

Plus the CMA has a $4 million H2O grant that is due to expire and if the project is delayed, the CMA will have to shift the grant money away from the new plant to other water projects.

The CMA is under a federal mandate from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the DEP to reduce its nutrient outflows from its wastewater treatment plant. The new Chesapeake Bay regulations have set nutrient discharge limits in the Bay watershed, and the state has set up a cap and trade system where those that do not meet the new standards can purchase credits from those who have exceeded the standards and the CMA is purchasing credits on the open market until its new wastewater treatment plant is completed.

This year the CMA paid $180,000 for nutrient credits and said if the plant is delayed, the CMA would be forced to continue to purchase credits, plus pay for any increases in construction costs due to the delay, Williams said.

However, Potopa said there is still time to get these issues resolved in time for the CMA to receive its water quality permit from the DEP in time for the Aug. 22 PENNVEST meeting.

The city of Chattanooga has reached an agreement with the U.S. EPA, the state of Tennessee, and the Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN) on a multi-year program "to significantly minimize, and eliminate where possible, sanitary sewer overflows and improve the operation of its sewer system."

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of EPA and the lawsuit filed by the TCWN on Oct. 13, 2010, which alleged similar violations.

Chattanooga has agreed to pay a $476,400 civil penalty and make improvements to its sewer systems, estimated by the city at $250 million, to eliminate unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage. Chattanooga also has agreed to implement a green infrastructure plan and perform an $800,000 stream restoration project.

Mayor Ron Littlefield said there will be gradual increases in the sewer charge to fund the 16-year sewer improvement program.

Organized in 1952, the city's Interceptor Sewer System serves the city and a surrounding metropolitan area which together have a population of approximately 400,000, encompassing about 200 square miles. The city's Interceptor Sewer System comprises approximately 1,268 miles of sewer lines, some of which date back to the 1890's. It also includes 70 miles of combined sewers, 72 custom-built pumping stations, eight combined sewer overflow treatment facilities and one major regional wastewater treatment plant (Moccasin Bend WWTP).

In addition to the city, the Interceptor Sewer System serves the following suburban utilities and municipalities: Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Authority, which includes the cities of East Ridge, Lakesite Lookout Mountain, Ridgeside, and unincorporated areas of Hamilton County in Tennessee; the cities of Collegdale, Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold, and Rossville; the town of Lookout Mountain; and parts of Catoosa County, Dade County, and Walker County in Georgia.

Each of these regional systems are also in the process of working with EPA, through a voluntarily agreement, that requires an assessment of their sewer programs, in order to reduce SSOs as well as to reduce the amount of inflow and infiltration that these systems contribute to the Moccasin Bend WWTP.

The city's investment in addressing overflows began in the 1990's when it spent more than $8.5 million on inflow and infiltration control projects, $15 million on capacity enhancement projects, and $25.8 million on the expansion of the Moccasin Bend WWTP. With respect to combined sewer overflows, Chattanooga's efforts pre-date EPA's 1994 CSO control policy. From 1992-2001, Chattanooga spent over $40 million on projects to either separate sewers or re-engineer its CSOTFs. From 2003-2010, Chattanooga spent another $13 million on five additional CSO projects.

Highlights of the comprehensive $250 million plan include:

• conduct an audit of the city's Capacity, Management, Operations & Maintenance program;
• continue to perform comprehensive sewer surveys in five priority sewer basins in the first five years (phase I) and 24 basins in the remaining 10 years (phase II);
• complete a series of early action capital projects in the first five years designed to address inflow and infiltration and other capacity related issues in the sewer system and improve efficiencies at the Moccasin Bend WWTP;
• complete an assessment and develop, if necessary, a rehabilitation plan for the East Bank and West Bank outfalls;
• complete an update to the city's Long-Term CSO Control Plan, including developing an additional operational control plan for the Chattanooga Creek CSOTF outfalls and conduct post-construction compliance monitoring for the CSOTFs that discharge to Chattanooga Creek;
• develop a green infrastructure plan.

Increase public notification about SSOs, including through the city's website; and

Reduce basement backups and develop an enhanced emergency response plan to better handle backups.

The agreement also provides for $800,000 to be spent on a supplemental environmental project, $238,200 for a state environmental project, and a $238,200 civil penalty paid to the federal government.

One other environmental project which is to be completed in a five-year timeframe includes:

• EPA SEP - Conduct a stream restoration project involving over 1,500 linear feet of a tributary of South Chickamauga Creek designed to significantly improve water quality of the tributary and South Chickamauga Creek. The goals of the project include improving the ecological function of the stream, enhancing the hydrologic floodplain, and eliminating a significant contributor of sediment and total suspended solids ("TSS") in an impaired stream.

The Kaufman City Council recently awarded two bids — one that will add new parking space to the Kaufman Sports Complex and a second bid that will make improvements at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Lamarc, Inc. in Kemp was awarded the bid for the multiple project improvement plan. Larmarc, Inc. bid $258,630 for the four-part effort.

Public Works Director Richard Underwood said one project involves replacing two mixers in the south side aeration basin and upgrading to an air bubbler system with lower horsepower blowers; replacing of an out-of-service mixer; converting a coarse screen unit to a fine screen unit in order to keep larger items out of the system, which had been causing the need for more repairs; and replacing three inoperable slide gates.

The second bid was just one of three approvals given by the Council for wastewater treatment improvements.

Council members also approved a final payment for a new automatic transfer switch system at the plant — the final, total cost of the project is $175,730.50. It has a one-year warranty. Also, the Council approved repairs to clarifiers at the wastewater treatment plant. The plant came within two hours of complete failure in this area recently. The cost of repairs was $36,860.

The Corpus Christi City Council is being asked to spend $538,000 for a study that it hopes will show the Oso Bay Wastewater Plant’s discharge has little effect on the overall health of the Oso Bay.

The outfall from the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant is located at the Hans Suter Park. Each day, the pipeline sends some 10 million gallons of treated wastewater into the Oso. The city is worried that the state is going to make it spend up to $70 million to clean up the water even more, in an effort to lower levels of ammonia and oxygen in the effluent water.

The City believes the state will not do an in-depth study of the Oso Bay, and instead will rely on general facts and figures that may not actually apply to what is going on in the Oso.

The study is set to begin in August and will take about two years to complete. Armed with the results of the study, the City hopes that it will show that the Bay is fine and it does not need to make any new improvements to the plant.

Two years ago, the city spent $550,000 for another study involving the Oso plant. It looked at what the City needed to do inside the treatment plant to lower ammonia levels. The new study basically looks to confirm that those changes worked and made a difference in the Oso Bay.

Techniques to mitigate some of the issues that lead to an intermittent smell from the new Cape Charles Wastewater Treatment Plant were discussed after concerns raised by a councilman.

"Is that the new norm or can something be done about it?" asked a councilman to Dave Fauber, director of public works and utilities, about a smell from the treatment plant.

In the discussion, Fauber included that there are systems that can be installed that can take care of problems including filtering through activated carbon, and they would look into it and see if "we can mitigate some of the issues."

"It is intermittent," said the assistant town manager, saying one of the issues is the discharge of the vacuum pump stations in the Bay Creek development and one of the problems is the sewage sits in the pump stations for a while and goes septic and when they discharge "you are pumping already odorous sewage to the wastewater plant and that is why you smell that intermittently."

The techniques they are going to explore include adding water to flush it more often and "perhaps setting the discharge point lower."

Additional upgrades to the Clarkston Wastewater Treatment plant were approved recently at the Clarkston City Council Meeting.

The five additional upgrades include new pumps that circulate waste through the plant, new equipment and rehabilitation for older machinery.

City Public Works Director Jim Martin said the renovation project for the plant had a list of upgrades that they needed but would be able to do without. Now that the bids have come in, he said that adding these additional upgrades is possible.

Martin said that by expanding the project, the finished plant will be more efficient and have a larger capacity. The original budget calls for $12.6 million, however the additional fees will put it at a little more than $15 million. Martin said he expects to award a winning bid at the next council meeting at the end of August.

The Torrington City Council has approved funding a feasibility study to look into different options of possibly expanding its current wastewater treatment plant.

In July city engineer Bob Juve presented the council with a proposal to have Western Research and Development, Ltd., study the City's treatment plant along with its permit history from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ), and among other portions of the system that includes the impact of various sewer districts that transport sewage into the City's system.

"In our current permit cycle we [city] had a change in our plant capacity limit, and in our ammonia-we were one of the few communities on the North Plate River that did not have an ammonia limit. We now have an ammonia limit. Our plant is not designed for ammonia nitrification so there is an issue there. We haven't had any major busts, we've only had one bust, that I'm aware of, in our permit requirements, but, as the [increased] loading continues and as weather fluctuates a little bit more and we get more peak loading, we may not be able to maintain the compliance. We are getting very close to our plant design capacity, so we need to make sure we have planned for the future adequately because right now we don't have much room to plan," said Juve

The governments of Canada and British Columbia and the Capital Regional District (CRD) announced funding recently for the construction of a new wastewater treatment system for the region. This project will reduce marine pollution by vastly improving the quality of municipal wastewater discharged into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The new system, known as the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Program (CAWTP), will consist of three projects: the construction of the McLoughlin Wastewater Treatment Plant and Marine Outfall, a Biosolids Energy Centre, and Conveyance System Upgrades. The total capital cost of the CAWTP is estimated to be $782.7 million. The total proposed federal contribution will be up to $253.4M, the total provincial contribution is a maximum of $248M, and the CRD will provide the balance, estimated at close to $281.3M. The Biosolids Energy Centre portion of the Program will be delivered through a public-private partnership (P3), with support from the P3 Canada Fund. As a P3, the CRD will be able to harness private sector innovation and ensure the best possible value for taxpayers' money.

Once completed, the CAWTP will significantly improve the level of wastewater treatment, as well as reduce the volume and incidents of untreated wastewater discharge as a result of sewer overflows. The new facilities will be designed to satisfy British Columbia’s Wastewater Regulation and the proposed federal Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations.

Federal funding for McLoughlin Wastewater Treatment Plant and Marine Outfall, and Conveyance System Upgrades is conditional on Treasury Board approval and the signing of the contribution agreements. The project must also meet all the terms and conditions of federal infrastructure programs, as well as respect any applicable legal obligations, including those related to aboriginal consultation and environmental assessment. The Biosolids Energy Centre meets the Terms and Conditions of the P3 Canada Fund and is eligible under the wastewater infrastructure category.

For more information visit www.infrastructure.gc.ca and www.actionplan.gc.ca.

The federal environment minister has introduced new rules for wastewater treatment aimed at controlling the wastewater entering Canada's lakes, rivers and oceans.

Under the new rules, it will no longer be good enough for municipalities to use only primary treatment, in which solids that float or sink are removed.

Municipalities will now be required to perform secondary treatment, where dissolved organic material is removed as well.

Sewage treatment facilities will have a period to comply — 10, 20 or 30 years depending on whether the facility is considered a high, medium, or low risk in terms of the pollution it’s putting out.

According to Kent, the government estimates roughly 75 percent of municipalities are already in compliance with the new rules, and the remaining 25 percent must upgrade to at least secondary wastewater treatment.

The new rules mean upgrades will be required at two facilities in Metro Vancouver — the Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant in North Vancouver and the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Richmond. The cost of the upgrades is estimated at $1.4 billion.

Kent acknowledged the total costs to municipalities would run into the billions, but said the federal government is providing municipalities with infrastructure funding and they are free to use that money to pay for wastewater upgrades.

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

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