Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council approved resolutions on Aug. 14 authorizing city staff to borrow an additional $4 million from the state to help cover an increase in the estimate for building a new water treatment plant.
The city already had $4 million in available loan funds from the state’s Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund and $1,030,000 from the state’s Water-Wastewater Financing Program.
The council’s decision last week allows the city to borrow another $2 million from the Revolving Loan Fund and another $3 million from the Water-Wastewater Financing Program.
Based on preliminary engineering estimates, in September 2004, the council authorized receiving loans from the state for up to $5.3 million total.
In September 2006, the council authorized the construction of the raw water intake structure in Foster Dam and transmission line to the site of the planned water treatment plant at a cost of $1.7 million.
The structure and line are near completion, Public Works Director Mike Adams said. The next phase includes the final design and placement of water treatment facility, construction bid advertisement and construction.
“A revised engineering estimate has been completed indicating additional funds will be necessary to complete the project,” Adams said. The revised estimate is now $10.43 million, of which about $2 million are engineering, project management and contingency costs and $8 million is construction.
The city is not obligated to borrow all of the authorized loan funds, Adams said.
The city is estimating a water-wastewater rate increase to the average residential customer of $1 per month per million dollars borrowed, Adams said.
The average water-wastewater customer uses approximately 737 cubic feet of water per month.
The city’s previous engineering estimates were approximately $5 million for the construction of the water treatment plant.
City officials knew the price would go higher, Adams said, but they waited until information was more complete before expanding the loan with the state.
The city is replacing the water treatment plant located on Ninth Avenue with a new one to be constructed on land near Foster Dam. Water will be drawn from the lake and taken under Wiley Creek by pipe to the new treatment plant.
When regulations changed in 1998, the city’s water treatment plant no longer could meet requirements for chlorine contact time. As a result, the city has been mailing notices about the failure quarterly to its customers.
City officials said that the old plant could not be upgraded to meet the contact time requirement and that the city would need to build a new treatment plant.
The existing plant has exceeded its useable lifespan, Adams said, and it is suffering from structural failures. It was built in 1938 and expanded in 1964.