Oregon Wastewater Upgrade August 28, 2006

The necessity of upgrading our wastewater system has to do with the most serious problem confronting all wastewater systems, and that is the compliance with IEPA requirements. 

The first and most important problem that the city addresses every day is the handling and disposal of wastewater solids, and our system of drying bed evaporation does not work five months out of the year, creating an unacceptable storage problem.

Not long ago, Oregon was able to land apply solids on City property that was not regulated as to crop rotation and weather conditions.  This has changed when the IEPA informed the City that land application near people would no longer be acceptable.   It was also not long ago that the City of Oregon was able to discharge overflow sewage into the Rock River and this is no longer acceptable, leading to the storm water and sanitary sewer separation project. 

In anticipation of additional IEPA regulation of solids disposal, I entered into a study of the best way to alleviate our problem.

In working with our engineers to resolve the problem, many systems were investigated and that is when I found out about the very successful, Cannibal Process developed by US Filter and is in use at the Byron Disposal Plant.  Byron is the forerunner for the system has been the experiment and development wastewater plant for US Filter and has the latest technology and developments.  

Byron has not hauled sludge in over five years, and when I saw this system in operation, I decided that this is the system Oregon should install.  Byron hauls one and a half tons of waste consisting of hair and debris every week that takes forever to digest in aerobic type systems and constitutes much of the solids that require disposal.  Their waste hauler picks up a dumpster once a week and takes it to the land fill as normal garbage at a cost of $250 a month.  The computer-operated digestion of the remaining waste is too complicated for me to explain, other than microbes are starved then over fed and then they feed on each other.

Our existing cost to land apply sludge is going to become much more complicated and expensive as the IEPA will require chemical testing and restrictions on when and what you can land apply.

This is the opportunity to be ahead of the IEPA and resolve the problem before it presents itself as a directive and requirement to be corrected.  This is a wise and cost effective plan that should be enacted before the business climate changes, making the project cost prohibitive without additional burden on the taxpayer. 

At the time the Cannibal Process is installed we will take the opportunity to upgrade all existing equipment at the wastewater plant.   The way we process wastewater will be totally changed but our existing infrastructure will to utilized with the addition of one building.  All motors, blowers, electrical, plumbing and controls will be replaced with the latest technology and engineer expected life of 20 years, will last 40 years in real time.  We will also be installing an additional clarifier to work with our existing clarifier increasing our plant capacity and efficiency.   Our existing system was installed over 40 years ago and now requires expensive maintenance repairs annually.

With the planned upgrades the City of Oregon will be able to add 1000 additional homes before requiring additional capacity, and the new system will have operational savings of energy and manpower costs. 

After much planning with our City Clerk Carlene Ruthie, we have developed a plan to pay for this upgrade with IEPA loans being paid for with existing Capital Improvement funds.  The City has retired the loan from the East Oregon Water and Sewer project so the new loan will replace the previous loan.  We are now City number 26 in line for IEPA loan consideration and this vote will allow the application for the loan to move forward and construction planning to begin. 

There will be no increase in fee’s of any kind to pay for this upgrade, and in my best judgment with advise from every conceivable source, Oregon should complete this project.

Other Public Property Business

There are indications that business on Route 64 East wish to annex into the City of Oregon and connect to our soon to be available water and sewer services.  It is my understanding that the Black Hawk Lumber planned development is in the process of an annexation agreement.

C&H Excavating has completed the East Oregon water and sewer line extensions and the $400,000 estimated project was completed for $316,000.

Layne and Western have contacted me, and they now have everything that is necessary to reinstall well #2.  They expect to have equipment moved in by the end of the week and will assemble the well the following week.

The water department will be investigating a conversion plan to change our water meters to Automatic Meter Readers.  This new system has so many plusses that I don’t know where to start in explaining the system, but the major advance is the elimination of manual data entry.  This will save meter readers and City clerks hundreds of hours annually.

The water and wastewater department is going to be looking into a portable power supply for our various pumps.  I hope to develop a system where a unit can be connected to each lift station or well as necessary.  We know that one well can keep our reservoirs serviceable and if we were to have a power failure, an auxiliary generator could keep the City water system functioning indefinitely.  The IEPA and CMT have been recommending such a system with every annual report. 

In a Monthly Sewer and Water Rate Comparison study done by MSA Professional Services Inc. I find that Oregon is in the lower third of area towns with regard to service costs.  Oregon is about one half the cost of nearby towns Davis Junction, Leaf River, Mt Morris and Forreston.   The least expensive rates are in towns located on the convenient Mississippi River.

The Oregon Depot Gang will be visiting for the fifth year for a week of work from September 18 to 22.  A major project will be staining replacement woodwork that has been provided by Cain Millwork in Rochelle Illinois.  The destroyed original woodwork has been accurately duplicated for the Depot.