Sewer plant could need substantial upgrades to accomodate growth

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada's population is expected to grow over the next 20 years and the city's sewage treatment plant needs to be replaced to meet the needs of a significantly larger town, as well as to meet new state and federal sewage treatment requirements.

John Mitchell told the city council during three public hearings Tuesday night that Burns & McDonnell, the Kansas City engineering firm that is designing the improvements for Nevada's sewage treatment plant, estimate that Nevada's population will grow to about 14,000 by 2025.

Mitchell told the council that this population estimate is based on the number of building permits that have been issued, new platted subdivision and projected job growth.

"The existing plant is 28 years old and its components are nearing the end of their design life and it currently lacks the capacity to handle high flows," he told the council.

The plant needs to be able to handle the 15 million gallons per day of sewage generated during heavy rainfall. This is a 16-time increase over the normal dry weather flow of about 900,000 gallons of sewage per day, he told the council.

According to information from Burns & McDonnell the average daily flow is 1.39 million gallons of sewage per day.

The sewer mains in Nevada are old and have many leaks that allow rainwater to infiltrate the mains overloading the current treatment plant leading to untreated sewage being discharged into Little Drywood Creek, backing up into people's basements and spewing out of manholes and running through yards.

Replacing these old sewer lines is part of the work to be performed by city workers over the next 10 to 15 years.

Mitchell said that over time, as the city replaces old sewer mains, the infiltration will decrease and some of the extra capacity will be phased out.

He told the council that they are still negotiating with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources about how to meet various requirements.

Although the current plant meets all permit requirements that will not be the case in the future as treatment requirements are changed.

Mitchell told the council that in the near future the state is going to require that level of ammonia, solid material and the amount of biodegradable material in the discharge from the plant be lowered. There will also be a requirement that the discharge be disinfected to meet whole body contact requirements.

The effluent from the treatment plant is discharged into Little Drywood Creek, which Mitchell said is designated for livestock and wildlife watering and is expected to be required to meet standards for whole body contact.

In addition to improving the safety of the discharge from the plant, Mitchell said the improvements will also reduce the odor in the vicinity of treatment plant.

The type of treatment process to use has not been determined yet, Mitchell told the council.

Mitchell said that there are two methods of treating the sewage that would work on the existing property and they cost about the same amount.

The Schreiber Process would cost about $6.3 million to build and would have total lifecycle cost of $12.1 million and the deep ditch jet aeration process would cost about $5.9 million to build and a lifecycle cost of $12.2 million.

These estimated costs have an error margin of about 10 percent, Mitchell told the council.

"I would recommend that we bid both processes and let the marketplace decide," he said.

The cost of replacing the current plant is $5.2 million and will be paid for with the one-half cent sales tax passed by voters last year, $5.2 million in bonds and user fees.

In other business the council:

* Accepted the low bid of $181,917.60 from APAC-Missouri, Inc. for the 2005 transportation sales tax street improvement projects.

* Approved the appointment of Brianne Fulton to a four-year term on the parks and recreation board. Her term will expire in 2008.

* Approved the appointment of Jim Nichols to a four-year term on the parks and recreation board. Nichol's term will expire in 2008.

* Approved the appointment of Marjorie Cook to a four-year term on the library board. Cook's term will expire in 2008.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance declaring 1.53 acres of property in Lot 19 in the Nevada Industrial Park surplus property so it can be sold to the highest responsible bidder for cash. The ordinance allows the council to evaluate the bidder's plans for use, development and investment for the property. The Missouri Welding Institute has expressed an interest in purchasing this property to expand their facility; however, the city is required to sell it through the city's bidding process and open the sale to everyone.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance approving a contract with the Vernon County Commission for the commission to provide procurement of supplies and service providers for improvements at the recycling center.

* Postponed until the July 19 council meeting consideration of an agreement with Adams & Associates to design and supervise the construction of the new terminal building at the Nevada Municipal Airport.

* Passed on first reading a special ordinance to redefine a normal workweek for commissioned police officers and to provide for their accrual of vacation time and holidays. The new plan will base the officer's workweek on a rotating 28-day cycle with 12-hour workdays.

The officers currently work 10-hour days, which Chief Christine Keim told the council does not work well with the number of officers the department has.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance changing the zoning from M-1, light industrial, to C-1, local business, of property at 602-610 E. Cherry Street, at the request of Janet Wray, the property owner. The property has apartments on the second floor and M-1 zoning does not allow people to live on the property, while C-1 permits residences.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance to change the zoning on property located at 819 S. Alma from M-1 to C-1 at the request of Drew Liles who plans to live in the north half of the building and have a mechanics shop in the south half.

* Gave final approval to a general ordinance adopting the 2003 International Fire Code as modified to accommodate local requirements and incorporating it into the city code.

* Passed on second reading a special ordinance amending the 2005 city budget to bring it up to date.

* Postponed until the July 19 council meeting the second reading of a special ordinance approving an agreement with the Vernon County Sewer District, Rolling Meadows Subdivision, to allow the city of Nevada to provide sewage treatment for the Rolling Meadows subdivision.