New Cape wastewater plant would be biggest in city's history

When Cape Girardeau voters go to the polls April 5, they will be deciding how to pay for the single largest capital improvements project in the city's history -- $72 million for upgrades to the city's wastewater system, including a massive new treatment plant.

"I can't think of anything that would even rival it," said city manager Scott Meyer. "I think it's pretty safe to say it would be the biggest city project ever completed."

For example, the Cape La Croix Creek/Walker Branch Flood Control Project was about $48 million. Purchase of the water system from Ameren Missouri was $11.8 million. In 1994, the city did $25 million in sewer improvements. Two years later, the city spent $26.5 to improve the water system. The Mississippi River floodwall project, which is still ongoing, has a price tag of about $9 million.

And, as far as cost goes, this one tops them all.

City officials say the new plant has to be built to correct an environmental compliance issue and to increase the capacity of the plant. That includes as much as $62 million for a new treatment plant to replace the existing 52-year-old plant and another $10 million to pay for system improvements.

City leaders have been aware of, and planning for, upgrades to the plant for years. Original plans called for adding on to the city's existing plant at 429 Cooper St. That plant was built in 1962 and was upgraded in 1977, 1988 and 2003.

That plant was designed to treat 7 million gallons of wastewater a day with a peak capacity of 18 million gallons a day, but it could only sustain that for brief periods during top usage times, such as during a heavy rain that allowed stormwater into the system. Thirty to 40 times a year, wastewater bypasses the treatment plant and untreated wastewater is sent to the Mississippi River. State permits prior to 2006 allowed that to happen, but when it changed, the existing plant was out of compliance every time that happened.

City leaders say future regulations will be even more restrictive.

The city owns five or six acres next to the existing plant, which is off of South Sprigg Street, and original plans called to expand the plant there, Meyer said.

But that was before the sinkholes. In 2006, within a few hundred yards of that property, one sinkhole multiplied into about 20 over a 12-month period, making the property unsafe for development, said Tim Gramling, the city's Public Works director. The sinkholes delayed the process of planning and designing and the delay caused more compliance violations, he said.

"Some of them, we never even found a bottom," Gramling said. "They stopped after 80 or 100 feet and they hadn't touched anything."

Gramling said if they had gone ahead with the design as planned, it would have taken massive and hugely expensive amounts of concrete for foundational support. Even then, it would have been an expansion of the existing plant, which wasn't built to withstand significant earthquakes.

"The sinkholes just made it seem like we were vulnerable in that area," Gramling said. "It was just another reason to move to another location."

Now they're asking city voters to approve two separate measures to help pay for the tax, including an extension of the quarter-cent sales tax for capital improvements and a $72 million bond issue. City utility customers can expect to see rate increases either way, though city officials say those will be less if the ballot issues are passed.

Bond authorizations through elections qualify the city for lower interest financing alternatives. If voters reject the proposals, the city still has to build the plant to meet state standards and it will cause them to increase rates even more, Gramling said.

A big chunk of the money, as much as $10 million, will be used for upgrades to the city's sewer system, which is outdated and allows storm water into the city's 225 miles of sewer lines. The city already does maintenance, such as cleaning 400,000 feet of line each year, repairing 50 manholes each year and inspecting 30,000 feet of line annually by video.

So-called I&I has been a problem, Gramling said. That stands for inflow and infiltration. Inflow is storm water that enters into the sanitary sewer system at points of direct connection to the system. Infiltration is groundwater that enters the sewer system through cracks and leaks in the pipes.

I&I enters the collection system and flows to the wastewater plant, where it is treated before it is discharged, but it causes peak flow to much more than normal. It also increases operation costs, Gramling said. The city is studying how to eliminate I&I to make the new plant more efficient and the overall system better, he said.

The city is studying 240,000 feet of sewer line and 917 manholes in order to develop priorities, of which about 30 to 40 percent is expected to be targeted to eliminate I&I, typically in areas with the oldest sewer lines.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642