Elmer City looking into state-of-the art wastewater plant

Elmer City will spend $18,000 on a feasibility study on building a certain style of wastewater treatment plant for the town.

The Elmer City Council voted unanimously April 11 to go through with the feasibility study following a nearly hour-long presentation by Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman.

Tillman presented the council with fliers from Ovivo, a company that makes a treatment system called microBLOX, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) style of treatment plant.

Tillman detailed the system as being affordable, easy to install, being the future of wastewater treatment technology, and more, saying that the water that comes out of the plant is very clean and could be used for irrigation, if so desired.

A flier for the product lists a small footprint, low operational cost, and low energy demand as some of the benefits.

Tillman said he has spoken with people from Port Gamble, Washington, where they use the microBLOX system, and that they are happy with it.

A feasibility study done by Belsby Engineering will get specific on the final cost of installing the system, as well as on locations it could be placed. Ovivo company literature shows a plant on the back of a semi truck.

Tillman estimated the cost to be under $2 million. The MBR being “pre-engineered” would save on engineering costs, Tillman said.

The council asked questions about how state-of-the-art the system really is, if there will be a newer model in a few years, and more.

Multiple council members noted Tillman’s passion toward the topic, and the amount of research he has done, as giving them confidence in spending money on a feasibility study.

Tillman claims to have lost more sleep than anyone regarding a feud between Elmer City and Coulee Dam regarding their shared wastewater treatment facility, a 50-year contract regarding the plant, and arguments about paying for a new system being built.

Elmer City officials have expressed a desire, in multiple meetings, to become independent from Coulee Dam in regard to wastewater treatment, if financially plausible.

The $18,000 for the feasibility study will be paid for out of $20,000 that was originally set aside in the town’s budget to upgrade pumps in the existing lift station. That’s an expense Coulee Dam is currently footing by building a lift station to get Elmer City’s waste to its new treatment facility, for an estimated half million dollars or more.