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Officials break ground for Phase 2 of wastewater plant improvements

SALEM

Officials celebrate the start of the Salem Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase 2 improvements project by tossing some dirt from the spot where the new administration building will stand, attached to the garage behind them. Pictured from left are Salem Utilities Commission Chairman Bob Hodgson, commission member Randy Malmsberry, Burgess & Niple construction manager Don Tych, acting plant manager Jim Brown, Burgess & Niple engineer Bob Schreiner, Salem City Councilman Sal Salvino, Salem Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart, city Auditor Betty Brothers, city Councilman Geoff Goll, city Treasurer K. Bret Apple and plant operator Brandon Tyband. (Salem News photo by Mary Ann Greier)

The dirt flew Thursday as city officials, personnel and engineers kicked off the Phase 2 Improvements Project for the Salem Wastewater Treatment Plant on Pennsylvania Avenue with shovels in hand.

“A lot of this is maintenance on the plant,” city Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart said.

The ceremonial breaking of ground took place about an hour before the city Utilities Commission held its monthly meeting, with representatives of Burgess & Niple, the engineering firm on the project, taking part, along with commission members, city officeholders, and utilities personnel.

City Utilities Commission Chairman Bob Hodgson said the work is “all part of three phases of planning started 10 years ago to bring the plant up to standards.”

The upgrades are both to satisfy the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and to replace dilapidated equipment that’s not up to today’s standards and to quote Hodgson is “falling apart.” The city can’t get parts for some of the equipment due to its age.

This drawing shows the new administration building that will be part of the Phase 2 upgrade at the Salem Wastewater Treatment Plant.

A three-bay garage that dates back to 1928 will remain, with a new administration building attached to it as part of the project.

Bob Schreiner of Burgess & Niple said plans include installation of a sludge storage pad, replacing five primary clarifiers or settling tanks with two new circular settling tanks, converting one of the old primary tanks to use for sludge thickening, constructing the new administration building and rehabbing the old service building and converting it to an operations building.

He said this project will improve primary settling of waste solids and the thickener will held reduce the amount of sludge, making it easier to treat. With a place to store treated sludge on site, he said the city will save money from having to send treated sludge to a landfill in the winter time when it can’t be spread on farm fields.

Stanley Miller Construction of East Sparta won the contract with a bid of $5,285,870 and recently started moving onto the site and clearing ground. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.

During the meeting, the commission briefly touched on Phase 3 improvements, which are in the planning stages. Burgess & Niple engineers are working on a pre-engineering design study to develop the engineering scope and possible cost for the firm to design, bid and provide the construction engineering the project.

A preliminary price estimate for Phase 3 was $8.1 million which included engineering and construction, with the work to include anaerobic digester improvements, sludge dewatering equipment and building construction, instrumentation, and other improvements all related to how the city’s wastewater or sewage is handled.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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