LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
CHRISMAN—The Chrisman City Council learned of further delays to its wastewater treatment plant project during its Monday, Nov. 18 meeting. The group also discussed a potential pivot for the project that, if it works, may result in significant savings.
The council’s engineering consultant, Fehr Graham engineer Matthew Johnson, stopped by to get the councilmen up to speed on the progress toward constructing a new facility. According to Johnson, efforts to secure funding for the estimated $10,249,754 project from the USDA fell through after the application was denied. The request was turned down because the project is not in compliance with the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) established on Nov. 15, 2021, which “requires that all iron, steel, manufactured products and construction materials used in covered infrastructure projects are produced in the United States,” according to Department of Commerce Office of Acquisition Management’s website.
In other words, funding will not cover projects unless all of the materials and components are domestically sourced.
According to Johnson, an alternate bid for the project using BABA-compliant materials would result in a $5 million increase in the project’s price tag and would also require a rebid.
“I imagine we weren’t interested in going forward with something like that and rebidding it,” Johnson said.
Johnson told council members he contacted the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to explain their predicament. Johnson affirmed the council’s commitment to updating its old wastewater treatment plant, which struggles to meet effluent requirements (wastewater chemical levels) required by the Illinois permit system, also known as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), year-round.
The Attorney General’s Office advised Johnson and the council to apply for SRF (State Revolving Fund) grant funding. Once the application is submitted, the attorney general will meet with council members to discuss the project’s plans.
Chrisman Mayor Dan Moore signed the application during the meeting. Until the city has the funding for the project, whether it comes from SRF funding or another source, the project is halted. Johnson and board members won’t know if their project will receive any additional funding until Summer 2025.
“The intended funding list for the next fiscal year is not going to come out until the summer,” Johnson explained. “So we’re not going to bid until we know we’ve got money. So once that list comes out, then we’ll be able to bid, and we will be at about the same timeline that we were at this year, next year … so we’re talking about August (2025).”
Council members approved bids for the current project on Monday, Oct. 7, in an effort to show the Attorney General they are moving forward with the project. The city is bound to follow a consent order that, if ignored, could lead to massive punitive fines for the city, which is already waiting to see how severe fines for effluence violations at the current facility will be.
“Where we’re at right now is we’re trying to avoid that (fine) being a punitive kind of a fine. They have to do something, but we want to try to keep that something as minimal as possible,” Johnson explained.
Councilman and Streets, Alleys and Parks Commissioner Danny Owen discussed possible changes that could bring the current facility in line with effluence standards. Still, Johnson explained mechanical issues and high costs for necessary chemicals to sustain those requirements during the winter months were both roadblocks.
Owen also suggested altering the project to make the new plant a wastewater treatment lagoon, or an earthen pond. He believes the move would “save (Chrisman) lots and lots of money.”
Johnson was more receptive to this second option and encouraged Owen to ask the Attorney General’s Office if it would be a possibility during their upcoming meeting.
“As we’re starting to formulate that kind of a solution, you know, we would have to find some land that we could build on,” Johnson said after highlighting several requirements for a lagoon system. “All of these things are things that are technical that I think we can work through.”
The only potential wrinkle would be what Johnson referred to as “anti-backsliding” regulations, which dictate the facilities cannot take a step backward in terms of quality. Still, Johnson believes the council could bypass the issue given its financial predicament and the massive cost of the proposed plan.
“The effluent limits would remain the same, we would be meeting them with a lagoon system,” Johnson explained. “In order to do that, we have to make some modifications to just digging a hole and putting water in it, but I think that it will work.”
“If we can’t afford to build this (new) plant, we can have this (lagoon) plant,” said councilman Rodney Wolfe. “And if we can get the money to build this (lagoon) plant I don’t know why the EPA would say (no).”
Johnson echoed Wolfe’s sentiments, noting the type of system should be irrelevant as long as the effluent is within state protocols.
“My case would be that, you really can’t tell us how (to do this), you only can tell us what we have to do, and the ‘what’ part is the effluent,” he said. “So if I produce effluent that meets the requirements of our NPDES permit, then why do you care?”
Johnson will submit the council’s signed application for SRF funding. Several other items on the agenda were discussed but tabled for a future meeting.