Construction on the initial phase of Marietta's estimated $21.7 million wastewater treatment plant upgrade could begin as early as December, according to information presented during a public meeting on the project Tuesday afternoon.
"This is a fairly simple project that we think can begin this year," said Dale Kocarek, engineer with Stantec Consulting Service, Inc. of Columbus, consultants on the wastewater plant project.
A recommended schedule for Phase 1A shows advertising for bids beginning on September 14, and construction startup slated for December 21. Projected completion of the initial phase is March 1 of 2012.
Kocarek said Phase 1A entails construction of a "biological selector" unit in the front section of the current plant's main building.
He said the unit would help reduce sludge bulking and foaming in the plant's aeration tank system as well as promote more efficient treatment of the sludge, and minimize the number of blowers and tanks needed to process the sludge.
"Running the blowers is one of the most costly operations in the process," Kocarek said, adding that the biological selector would allow blowers to be turned on or off as needed.
The estimated cost for Phase 1A is $1.1 million, according to Joe Tucker, Marietta's city engineer, who said the city is applying for three grants to cover about $900,000 of that cost, including $250,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission, $240,000 from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 594 grant, and $400,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission.
"The Section 594 is the one grant we're pretty assured to get, although we will have to jump through a lot of hoops to obtain it," Tucker told city council's water, sewer and sanitation committee following Tuesday's public meeting.
"I'm asking for legistlation approving the application for the Section 594 grant, and I'll have the application together for the Ohio Public Works grant next week," he said.
Councilman Mike McCauley, D-2nd Ward, chairman of the water, sewer and sanitation committee, agreed to introduce the legislation during council's next regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5 in the community building at Lookout Park.
Also during Tuesday's public meeting, Tucker discussed the development of an intergovernmental agreement between the city and Washington County to provide sanitary sewer service to areas outside the corporate limits.
"The treatment plant can be moderately expanded and improved to accept effluent from areas located beyond the corporation limits, which provides for some growth," Tucker said. "There are currently a number of areas within the county that are not sewered or have inadequate sewer facilities."
Under the agreement, the county would provide collection of the sewerage, and the city would provide treatment. Both entities would share in the cost.
The main area of concern for the county is Devola, where a small treatment plant more than 50 years old provides limited service and several homes are still on septic systems.
Washington County Commissioner Cora Marshall said the intergovernmental agreement with Marietta is not a new concept, as the county currently has a similar arrangement with the city of Belpre.
"They treat the effluent and send the county the bill for the number of gallons treated," she said.
"Also, the (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency) is encouraging us to work with the city on this regional concept," Marshall added. "They believe everyone should have access to sewer service, and we think it makes sense to to this together with the city."
Councilman Tom Vukovic, D-4th Ward, expressed concern that the commissioners had been working with a draft copy of the agreement, but city council had not yet seen the document.
Tucker said city law director Roland Riggs III had been working closely with the commissioners on the agreement and wanted to get the majority of any issues ironed out before presenting it for council's review.
"We want a contract that (the city and county) can both understand, and that won't have a negative impact on our constituents," Marshall said. "We want to be sure we thoroughly understand the document before we sign the agreement."
But Vukovic said he wanted to be sure the agreement would not cause an issue with the city's current practice of requiring any property owner asking for water or sewer service outside the city limits to agree to having their property annexed into the city if it ever became contiguous to the municipal boundaries.
Mayor Michael Mullen said that was not an issue.
"Annexation was never part of the agreement," he said. "And you'll have the entire council approval process and multiple meetings to consider the terms of the agreement."
Mullen also noted that the intergovernmental agreement would not have to be completed in order to begin taking bids on Phase 1A of the wastewater treatment plant project.
Wastewater superintendent Steve Elliott said one main reason for Tuesday's public meeting was to meet the requirements for a permit to install from the Ohio EPA.
"We can't do any building construction without a permit to install, and the permit allows us to go out for grant funding," he said.
Mullen noted that the city applied for $5 million in stimulus funding for the wastewater treatment plant project from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but the application was turned down because a permit to install had not been issued for the project.
Elliott said the city treatment plant, originally built in 1955, is in dire need of renovation. The last plant upgrade was in 1987, and the facility is gradually failing, although it currently is in compliance with its operating permit.
A potentially disastrous failure of the plant's anaerobic digester system occurred in January, resulting in the release of a large amount of methane gas and a sludge leak into the basement of the main building.
No one was injured in the incident, but several residents in the surrounding neighborhood were temporarily evacuated from their homes as a safety precaution.
