Nash Road businesses study two options to sewage problem

Nash Road businesses are studying two options to address the industrial park’s sewage problem and comply with environmental regulations.

One option is to install “grinder” equipment and pump the sewage into the city’s sewer system. The other option is to fix or replace the existing, private sewer pipes and pumps and possibly hire a company to resolve the ammonia problem, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner said Thursday.

Mehner stressed the sewer problem does not involve industrial waste.

“This is all just human waste,” he said.

The 20 businesses in the industrial park near the Diversion Channel are served by a lagoon system that treats the sewage and discharges it into the Diversion Channel.

But the private sewage system needs a major upgrade to meet federal and state environmental regulations, city and civic leaders said.

The ammonia level in the lagoon must be brought within regulatory limits by next April for the private sewer system to renew its operating permit for another five years.

About a dozen representatives of Nash Road businesses, the lawyer for the private sewer board and Mehner met Wednesday to discuss the options.

Earlier this year city officials had suggested the businesses hook onto the city’s sewer system. But the entire project would cost an estimated $7.1 million, officials said.

City officials have proposed a less costly option.

Deputy city manager Molly Hood said it would involve installation of grinders at each business to “chew up the debris.”

The sewage would be pumped into a main sewer line that would connect to a central pump. The sewage then would be pumped under Interstate 55 and connect with the Ramsey Creek pump station, which would carry it to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Hood estimated the grinder system would cost about $4 million to implement.

The businesses would have to be annexed into the Cape Girardeau city limits to hook into the city’s sewer system, she said.

An advantage of the grinder system is smaller sewer pipes could be installed, lowering the cost of the project, Hood said.

The grinder system also would serve Cape Girardeau’s airport, which borders the industrial park.

The airport currently operates its own sewage lagoon.

City employees routinely pump out the airport lagoon and haul the sewage in a tanker truck to the city’s treatment plant.

Hood said the airport and Nash Road lagoons would be eliminated with this option.

The city would help foot the bill for the sewer project, Hood said.

The Nash Road businesses would pay about $3.2 million of the cost, with the city picking up the remaining $800,000 tab.

The second option, Mehner said, would replace or repair the private sewer lines in the industrial park to reduce infiltration of the sewer system.

But Mehner said replacing or repairing pipes may not solve the problem.

In that case, a company would have to be hired to lower the ammonia level in the lagoon with chemicals or aerators, he said.

Under this option, Nash Road businesses would not be connected to the city sewer system, and the properties would not be annexed by the city.

Mehner said the Nash Road group plans to secure cost figures for the second option to see how it compares with the estimated expense of the grinder option.

Mehner said the group hopes to have “answers back” within 45 days.

Hood said the grinder option offers the best solution from the city’s perspective because businesses no longer would have to worry about meeting future environmental regulations governing sewage disposal.

“We think it is a win-win,” she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Nash Road industrial park, Scott City, Mo.