Elmer City still mulling options on own treatment plant

Elmer City may test a force main that carries wastewater to Coulee Dam’s treatment plant to see how long the 40-year-old cast iron pipe is likely to last.

The town applied for a grant of $30,000 for the test, which would help nail down the cost of a possible switch from using Coulee Dam’s to building Elmer City’s own treatment facility.

Engineer Nancy Wetch, of Gray and Osborne, went over the likely cost differences with the town council Thursday night after having completed a cost study of the alternatives.

Wetch explained two alternative three-phase plans and what each could end up costing the town over periods of decades.

One plan would keep on using Coulee Dam’s plant, with costs accumulating to $17,638,300 over 50 years, including and assumption of 3 percent inflation per year.

In the other approach, the town would spend $22,872,200, including building its own new “Nebula” wastewater treatment facility at Lone Pine and the cost to operate and maintain it.

Those numbers do not include interest on any debt acquired to build the new facility or to rebuild a forcemain from Lone Pine to Coulee Dam if the town chose to follow that plan.

Operating and maintaining the Nebula “package” plant, Wetch estimated, would cost $2,489,500 over the first 20 years, compared to $1,064,100 for the town’s share of costs with Coulee Dam.

Effects on rates for sewer service in the town vary widely depending on what financing could be acquired, whether loan or grant and the mix of each.

The town’s current household rate is $62 a month.

That may go up to anywhere from $90 to $125 a month if the town stays with Coulee Dam.

If the town builds its own plant, Wetch’s presentation slides showed a possible range from $95 at best to $221 a month in a worst-case scenario, $108 of which would service the debt on a new plant.

Wetch said regulatory requirements would make it necessary for the town to hire certified operators for a new plant, and testing would have to be done at least five days a week.