Scott City to improve wastewater treatment

Plans to upgrade Scott City's wastewater treatment plant are underway.

City administrator Ron Eskew said the approximately $3.5 million project will be pitched at the Jan. 5 council meeting.

The upgrade is a result of a Missouri Department of Natural Resources permit modification. Permits are updated every five years, and after evaluating Scott City's permit in October 2013, the DNR wants to limit ammonia levels, something occurring all over the state, at the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The city reached out to Rich Cochran, a senior engineer and vice president at Waters Engineering Inc. in Sikeston, Missouri, for the preliminary plans.

"The state, EPA, is a driving force for the wildlife, the fish, mussels and snails, and if the ammonia levels get too high, it could kill the wildlife in the streams," Cochran said. "So they want to keep those lower and also they're worried about the hypoxia [reduced oxygen in the water] in the Gulf [of Mexico], because when you have the nutrients like ammonia in the water, then that can promote the growth of algae."

The algae absorbs oxygen throughout the night and also can affect fish and other wildlife, Cochran said.

Meanwhile, Scott City has multiple options for reducing ammonia levels.

"[Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority is] an option that we can look at because at the port, their permit has not come up for renewal yet, but *... we anticipate the port to have to be making some improvements later on, potentially, and Scott City does operate that plant for them, so one option is, since they're discharging into the Mississippi and already have a location where they're discharging, it's possible that we could go out that direction and upgrade or replace that facility and discharge directly into the Mississippi there," Cochran said.

If the city decides to upgrade its current system from its lagoon off Route N, it could build a mechanical plant or upgrade the lagoon.

"The biggest difference is lagoons take up a lot of area, so you've got a lot of detention time, 25 to 30 days worth of water is retained in that lagoon for treatment. *... When you get into the mechanical plant, you have a lot more concrete basins, more mechanical mixers, blowers for the aeration, there's a lot more aeration and the detention is much less, more like one day's worth," Cochran said.

Also with the lagoon, less operator attention is required, whereas at the mechanical plant an operator should be paying attention to the equipment almost 24/7, Cochran said.

One of three sewage lagoons at Scott City's wastewater treatment plant is seen Monday, Dec. 8, 2014 off Route N east of Scott City. (Fred Lynch)

After a design is chosen from the preliminary plans, the city will host a public hearing to explain the next step. Eskew said the meeting is determined within 30 days of the council meeting and that by hosting it, the council will provide transparency about any rate increases.

"Right now the city is paying for this study. The city did get a grant to pay for a portion of it, so the city has some cost associated with this report as well, but once everything is decided on ... the city will have to fund design and construction and final operations of the facility as well. So part of their process will probably be public hearings on the project," Cochran said.

The dates for those public hearings have not been set yet, but once plans are in motion residents most likely will be interested in how it will reflect on their sewer bills.

"Regardless of what we do, it's going to mean a rate increase, and once the council looks at things and makes a decision then we can say *... 'This is what the recommendation that the council decided to go with, and here's how it's going to affect the residents,'" Cochran said. "But we're not really at a point right now to say, 'This is what the rate is going to have to be,' because we haven't got the decision and the report to that stage."

smaue@semissourian.com

388-3644