Wednesday, September 10, 2003
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Wednesday, September 10, 2003 |
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F'ville OKs $5.76M sewer expansion By JOHN MUNFORD
Fayetteville's old, inactive sewer plant will be renovated and refurbished to provide enough wastewater treatment capacity for more than 10,000 additional future residents, the City Council decided without a formal vote last week. The $5.76 million expense will be paid for by borrowing against future sewer revenues. No tax money will be used, officials said, and sewer revenue bonds don't require a voter referendum for approval. A formal council vote is expected when the project goes beyond the design phase and reaches the bidding stage. The city's current sewage treatment plant can only handle up to 2.5 million gallons a day. The city is permitted by state environmental regulators, however, to discharge up to 3.75 million gallons a day into Whitewater Creek; before the old plant was mothballed it could treat up to 1.25 million gallons of sewage a day. The renovation project, however, will double the capacity of the old plant to 2.5 million gallons, giving the city a capacity of treating 5 million gallons a day. That will allow the current sewer plant to be taken off line periodically for maintenance, a luxury the city doesn't have at this time, officials said. Fayetteville's population is expected to almost double in the next 11 years from 13,277 this year to 25,205 in 2014. But in the past 10 years, the strength of the sewage has increased largely because of the various restaurants that have opened since then, officials said. While roughly 5 percent of the wastewater coming from households is pure waste, that percentage is much higher from restaurants, said city water and sewer Director Rick Eastin. The result has been an increased level of biochemical oxygen demand in the city's sewage, which requires more oxygen to be introduced during the treatment process to clean the water, Eastin said. In 2002, the city treated 31 million gallons of sewage from private residences and another 11 million for all other uses including businesses, restaurants and the city's biggest sewer customer: the Fayette County Board of Education, which has several school campuses in the city limits. City Manager Joe Morton said he expects the city will actually need to treat between 3.65 and 4 million gallons a day when the city reaches its build out stage. Those figures were developed without considering any areas outside the city's boundaries that might be annexed. So far this year, the city has treated an average of 2.06 million gallons a day of wastewater, officials said. The city plans to fund the estimated $5.76 million project through revenue bonds, which do not require a public referendum. Mayor Ken Steele said this is appropriate since the city's water and sewer program is completely paid for by user fees and not subsidized by city tax revenues at all. "If you use the water and if you flush the toilet, you pay the price," Steele said. At this point, the city projects it will not have to raise its sewer rates for the next five years despite the rehab program for the old plant. The last time the city's sewer rate changed it was actually lowered in 1992, officials said. The refurbished sewer plant will allow the city to further improve its treatment of wastewater by the addition of several filters also, Eastin noted.
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