SALEM — With Phase 2 upgrades still pending at the city wastewater treatment plant, the Salem Utilities Commission gave personnel the authority to begin the process of selecting an engineer for Phase 3 design work for the next slate of required upgrades that could cost an estimated $8.5 million or more.

If capture of the plant’s methane gas as a power source becomes part of the plan, the price could rise an additional $3 million to $5 million, but then save on electrical costs in the long run.

With requirements from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on how to deal with wastewater and the sludge left over after treatment, along with rotting equipment, some decades old, commission Chair Bob Hodgson said it’s not a choice of whether the city does the upgrades but when the city does the upgrades.

“At some point, we have to talk about rates,” commission member Randy Malmsberry said.

Sewer or wastewater rates are controlled by city council and were last increased in 2001, not counting the elimination two years ago of the discount for paying the bill early. That’s when the Salem Utilities Commission raised the water rates, which they have the power to do without council approval, and eliminated the early bill pay discount. To eliminate the discount for the sewer part of the bill, council had to give permission, which council did.

The commission has been working on upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant for the last several years, completing Phase 1 and Phase 1A and now working on Phase 2, with the design awaiting approval of the OEPA. Plans call for bidding the project this fall, awarding the project in December and starting construction in early 2019 for an 18-month construction period. Completion is expected in June 2020.

The Phase 2 project calls for replacing the primary clarifiers which reduce the solids during the treatment process and repurposing an old clarifier tank for sludge thickening, along with putting in a sludge holding pad. Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart said the project will improve primary treatment of the city’s waste, replace outdated equipment and improve the efficiency of the operation.

The cost has been estimated at $5.7 million for the construction and engineering.

A general description of Phase 3 includes repairing and modifying the anaerobic primary and secondary digesters which break down the material, construction of a sludge dewatering facility, work on the oxidation towers, odor control and ultraviolet disinfection.

“I think we need to take a heavy look at Quasar and our own generation,” Hodgson said.

Quasar is a company which can build a system for capturing the methane gas in the wastewater treatment process so the city can then use the gas to power the plant, creating a savings for electrical costs.

In other business, the commission agreed to hold a work session at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 13, a half hour prior to the 4 p.m. start for the next regular meeting. Hodgson said he wants engineer Jon Vollnogle of Howells & Baird to come in and review drawings with the commission to show the route he wants to take for the Snyder Road sewer line extension. He gave the commission a written update on efforts to secure easements, noting that he can’t locate the owner of one small parcel and he was working on easements with Ohio Edison.

After reading the report, Hodgson questioned whether the schedule for bidding the project in September could be met.

Next week, Hodgson, Weingart and assistant Utilities Superintendent Matt Hoopes will meet with Vollnogle and a representative of Workman Industrial Services, the contractor on the Highland water tank pumping station project. Last month, the commission denied the contractor’s request for an extension on the completion date due to the alleged unavailability of a butterfly valve required for the work. Hoopes said he talked to a manufacturer who could have the valve delivered in two or three weeks. A crew has been on the work site this week. No work had been done at the site for at least three or four months and there’s a required completion date of Sept. 22.

mgreier@salemnews.net