By Ken Francis

Staff Writer

 

The Clearwater-Clear Lake Sewer Authority Board voted last week to table any decision to award bids for improvements to the wastewater treatment facility.

Last year, the sewer authority was awarded two state grants totalling $1.2 million for upgrades to the existing facility. Those improvement include installing a sludge dewatering system to replace the practice of discharging waste solids/sludge to an aerated lagoon; improving the pre-treatment building, including a new HVAC system and new a influent screen; upgrading the SCADA (data acquisition) system and installing new rapid infiltration basins (RIBs) to prevent discharge of phosphorus into the Mississippi River.

Monday, with a resolution to award bids for the project as part of the agenda, the board still had questions about whether it should move forward with the improvements.

Board Member Richard Petty was reluctant to award any bids without knowing the future financial impact. One component of his reluctance was the requirement to include the RIBs as part of the project in order to receive the grant money.

“We need to determine whether doing this project is going to put our wastewater treatment  plant in a better position either financially, efficiency or capacity,” he said. “What’s the benefit we’re going to receive from this. We could be sitting here next year and trying to explain why water rates raised because our budget increased because we added improvements - but yet we got no more efficiency or capacity.”

Doug Lubben of Donohue & Associates Engineering, said although the dewatering system (geotubes) is a necessary improvement for the future of the plant, phosphorus discharge was the basis for getting the grant.

“It’s not required right now, but someday it might be. That’s the catch,” he said. “But it’s not like we’re doing it to address a permit requirement.”

The cost for the dewatering system is estimated at $650,000. The cost for the RIBs is about $470,000.

He said the grant would allow the sewer authority to cover most of the cost for all the project components, estimated at $1.6 million - if they decided to do them all.

Petty said the reason the sewer authority board pursued the RIBs was the uncertainty whether the state would become more stringent about phosphorus levels. But he believed the state just passed legislation upholding current permits for 15 years.

“That gives us a little more leniency in the future,” he said.

He said if they voted to add the RIBs, the only benefit might be a more environmentally fiendly treatment facility. But it might not reduce rates or increase efficiency.

“We have operated our plant one way and it’s worked for us,” he said. “Why should we change if we can potentially have increased costs and not decreased costs?”

The sewer board is now faced with a decision - accept the grant and include the RIBs as part of the project, or do the watering system and other upgrades at some point and foot the bill.

The board directed Lubben to put together a cost analysis comparing the current operational costs to a post-RIBs plant.

The board will use that information to make its decision. That vote is expected within the next week.