CHAFFEE WASTE WATER TREATMENT IMPROVEMENTS MAY BE BID SOON

CHAFFEE - Improvements to the city's waste water treatment plant will be done by this fall if bids for the construction work are taken this summer.

That's the word from Wayne McSpadden of S.H. Smith Consulting Engineers and Surveyors in Cape Girardeau. McSpadden is the city's engineer for the project.

"There's probably 90 days worth of construction on the project," McSpadden said Monday night at the Chaffee City Council's regular meeting. The work, he said, would involve deepening the plant's final treatment cell and putting in its "litmus," or duck weed, treatment system.

McSpadden made the comments before receiving council approval to send a draft copy of a city sewer rate ordinance to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for approval. The ordinance is one of the requirements for the city to get into the state's revolving loan program.

McSpadden said later that the program would finance the construction and project costs. If everything goes smoothly, he said, it is hoped the construction would get under way by late summer or early fall.

City Attorney David Summers said the ordinance is basically the same as the city's existing sewer ordinance.

"Of course the main point was to keep the (sewer) rates at the same level," he said. "Wayne has done that with this."

Voters in Chaffee approved a $500,000 bond issue in November for improvements to the plant. The improvements are being undertaken to correct the plant's discharge, which is out of compliance with state standards because of high algae growth.

The issue was also voted on to finance a sewer line and lift station along North Frisco Street.

Duck weed would be used in the litmus system to stem algae growth by blocking sunlight and reportedly could be used later for compost, livestock feed or fertilizer. The litmus system reportedly would be the first in the state, according to city officials.