Employees of Rutjen Construction put in a long day Monday, beginning the huge cement pour for the city’s new wastewater treatment facility at 4 a.m. The facility will consist of two 75x75-foot cells, with 860 yards of concrete in the floor. The floor is 30” thick on the outside edge, and 18” thick in the middle. Broken Bow Utility Superintendent Mike Lucas says the crew will use about another 1,800 yards of concrete for the walls of the facility, which is expected to be completed by June 2010.
By ELLEN MORTENSEN
Chief Assistant Editor
After being issued a notice of violation Jan. 1, 2006, by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, and given a four-year window to fix the problem, construction on a new wastewater treatment facility for the city of Broken Bow has begun.
This week the cement slab which will form the floor of the new SBR (sequential batch reactor) was poured. City Utility Superintendent Mike Lucas says the project is expected to be completed by late next spring.
Because of the notice from the NDEQ, the building of a new facility was not optional. And thanks to help from a stimulus package, the community is able to build the facility at a considerable savings.
Chief Assistant Editor
After being issued a notice of violation Jan. 1, 2006, by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, and given a four-year window to fix the problem, construction on a new wastewater treatment facility for the city of Broken Bow has begun.
This week the cement slab which will form the floor of the new SBR (sequential batch reactor) was poured. City Utility Superintendent Mike Lucas says the project is expected to be completed by late next spring.
Because of the notice from the NDEQ, the building of a new facility was not optional. And thanks to help from a stimulus package, the community is able to build the facility at a considerable savings.
In March, it was announced that Broken Bow is one of 16 Nebraska communities to receive funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The renovations were initially eligible for financing through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, making a 20-year loan at an interest rate of 3 percent available to the city.
When the city was notified that they were selected to receive this stimulus funding, it came as somewhat of a shock to many.
“I didn’t think any of the (Wastewater Treatment Plant) moneys would come to rural Nebraska. I was wrong,” said Lucas.
The funding comes in the form of a grant plus low-interest funding to pay for the estimated project cost of $5,055,000. Under the offer the community would receive a 20-year loan at 2 percent interest for $2,527,500; a 20-year loan at 0 percent interest for $1,263,750 and a grant for $1,263,750. The grant funding will be administered by the NDEQ.
Rutjens Construction, of Tilden, is the general contractor on the project, turning in the lowest of six bids, with a bid of $3,067,000.
The $20 million in funding from the stimulus package has been combined with $34 million from Clean Water Recovery moneys.
For Broken Bow, it’s been a long time coming, Lucas emphasized at a March city council meeting, when the information was presented. A year or so ago the NDEQ told the community they weren’t going to “add one more bathroom” until something changed.
“We’ve been out of compliance in the water treatment plant for years,” said Public Works board member Gene Chapin, as he addressed the council at that meeting. “This has worked out for us; it will help the citizens of the community.”
Lucas says that because rates have increased, it is difficult for the city’s 1,700 water customers to see how this will benefit them. He explains that the new facility will show a savings of $7 to $10 per month per customer over the next 20 years.
“Though customers are still seeing their rates go up, they just won’t go up as much,” says Lucas.