Ceremonial "first flush"

Photo credit: Mark Peterson

At long last, the day has come. We are about to do the ribbon-cutting on our new Waste Water Treatment Plant. On Tuesday, May 20, Public Works Director Dan Knapp, members of the City Council and a few other notables will gather out at the new plant and witness, as it were, the ceremonial “first flush.” It's a day that has been long in the making.

Every year all municipal treatment plants get a report card as to how well they're functioning which includes what comes in (aka, “influent”) and what goes out (aka, “effluent”), including how we are filtering and processing phosphorous. And though our plant was built in 1982 we continue to score, most years, straight As. So, why, you may ask, the recent $26 million adjustment?

Former WWTP operator Mike McGinnis giving
me the tour of the old plant back in 2016

First of all, recall that the old plant was built in the last century. Its simply getting harder and harder to find spare parts. But more importantly, when it comes to phosphorous levels, measured in parts per million, the DNR moved the goal post with regards to new water quality standards. No matter what we would have tried to do with our old plant, she could never meet passing grades. And if the DNR says you shall, well,...we shall.

This was the Roberts plant visit

This was a miniature-test plant we experimented with

We decided to go with a version
similar to Bloomer's

Back in 2020, we began exploring our future Waste Water Treatment Plant by running a miniature test plant on site for a month or two as well as making a few field trips to plants in Roberts and Bloomer. Ultimately we chose to go with the sand filter version much like the plant in Bloomer. CBS² was awarded the bid in 2022 and began designing it. Of course, plans for facilities such as these can't be bought at the local Wal-Mart. It took perhaps a year to design the thing. Finally, in June 2023, the council along with a few other important folks, each turned over a gold shovel-full of dirt in the south industrial park, home of the new plant directly across from Chetek Lanes.

The ceremonial ground-breaking in June 2023

It's been a long row to hoe – especially for our Public Works Director Dan Knapp. From start to finish he's had to deal with all kinds of headaches along the way caused by supply chain issues, faulty parts and the one company in the Lower 48 that grows reeds going belly-up after the bid process had been completed. But at last, here we are. Our new plant is on-line and functioning as it was designed to function (barring a few hiccups here and there).

Photo credit Mark Peterson

Photo credit Mark Peterson

The process of finding these reeds
is truly serendipitous

We're inviting the public to an Open House on Tuesday, May 20, at the new plant to see for yourselves what you can get for $26 million dollars (minus the $10 million grant we got from the feds). From 3-6 pm Dan and some of the crew will be on hand to field questions and give guided tours. This plant is a wonderful addition to the city's infrastructure that will assist us in continuing to grow for many years to come.

Come and see for yourself on Tuesday, May 20
(Photo credit Mark Peterson)

And the winner is...

They will be our general contractor
for the future WWTP

 As I'm sure you're aware, the City of Chetek is at the beginning of a
major municipal project. Our current waste water treatment plant (WWTP), though continuing to function with passing grades from the state, no longer can meet the new water quality standards set by the DNR. No upgrade to our current system will do. There is no software program that we can download (especially because the technology we're running on is from the 1980s). Nope. We got to start from scratch. And, of course, these things aren't cheap to design or build.

Last Tuesday night in council chambers the common council of the City of Chetek officially awarded the bid to Market & Johnson of Stillwater, Minnesota to be the general contractor for our new waste water treatment plant. Construction will begin as soon as the snow goes.

They did that

You may have heard of them as they were the prime movers behind the remodeling of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, the new transit facility and the Children's Museum, all of Eau Claire. On January 19, in what was described to us as a competitive bidding process, the envelopes were opened and of the four general contractors they had the low bid (and by USDA rules a municipality that receives USDA funding has to take the low bid).

Not a long commute for these guys

What's even more gratifying to learn is that many of the sub-
contractors, who will be doing the lion's share of the work, are local including Stout Construction (who will be handling all the earthwork), Huff Concrete of Chippewa Falls, B&B Electric of Eau Claire and J.F. Ahern of Menomonie. Not only is it great to employ local workers it also helps in the event of a hiccup in the project to not have to wait to hear from “headquarters” a state or two away.

The Roberts' plant was real
intriguing

We'll be using a system akin
to what Bloomer is using

This process towards a new WWTP actually began back a few years ago when the DNR informed us that essentially we were on the clock to construct a new plant. Over the last few years, the council has made a few field trips to neighboring communities to inspect their plants (specifically Roberts and Bloomer) before settling on a sequencing batch reactor model (combined with a reactive sand filter) much like our neighbors down the road from us in Bloomer use.

Tia was the 2022 American Council
of Engineering Companies (ACEC)
of Wisconsin
Young Professional of the Year recipient

That was 2021. It takes time to design and engineer these kinds of projects and now that we've reached this stage in the process a year and a half later our costs have gone up. At our meeting last week, Tia McCarthy of CBS₂ , the engineer overseeing the project, carefully walked us through from where we've been and brought us up to where we are now. In 2021, our estimated costs of design and construction was $20.6 million dollars (a little over half of which will be paid by the USDA). Today this same project will run just shy of $25 million or a difference of $4.2 million from the original estimate. What gives? Simple. Inflation and economic forces outside our control. Them's the breaks.

Here were the principal bidders

Here's the fine print

We've already begun the process of applying for additional grant and/or low interest loan money to cover the $4.2 million. As soon as the snow field in the south industrial park evaporates come March or April, expect to see the blue trucks of Stout Construction begin to shape and level and move earth making way for the plant that has to be operational come November 2024. Make sure to look either at the City of Chetek's or Jeff Martin, Mayor's FB pages for updates and pictures as we slow-walk through from first turned dirt to ceremonial “first flush” toward the end of next year.

Coming soon to an industrial park near you

Good news/Bad news (We're getting a new waste water treatment plant but we're also getting a $10 million bill)

 

Coming to us by 2024 (conceptual drawing)

Hopefully by now you've heard the news: Recently Chetek was the recipient of a ten million dollar grant from Rural Development. It is the largest public works grant of its kind in Wisconsin history which will be applied toward the new waste water treatment plant that will begin to be built sometime in 2023. That's the good news.

Now here's the bad news: the project is expected to cost a little over twenty million dollars. So, yes, we got the thing for 50% off but we still have to fund ten million dollars of the project. That means our sewer rates will go up over the next three years to pay for our $338,000 annual loan payment. And by ordinance the only way to pay for a new sewer plant is through sewer rates.

That's a lot of Benjamins!

How much will they go up? On average, the increase to our individual sewer rates will be 23.3%/year for the next three years translating to a 70% total increase (ONLY to our sewer rates, not on our entire utility bill). What that means is that the sewer usage fee will increase from $6.13 per 1,000 gallons to $10.40 by 2024.

I asked Carmen to put an example together and here's what she offers:

Based on current rates with a household using 4,000 gallons of water per month:

Water	13.24 (water usuage – 4 x 3.31)
WTRBS (water rate base)	10.00 (water base fee)
Sewer	24.52 (sewer usage fee 4 x 6.13)
SWRBS (sewer rate base)	14.67 (sewer base fee)
PUBFR (public fire protection)	8.22 (public fire protection fee)
STORM	2.75 (storm water fee)
GARBG	18.50 (garbage fee)

$91.90 current total monthly charge

To estimate your new bill after the increase in September 2022:

Water	13.24 (same as above)
WTRBS	10.00 (same as above)
Sewer	30.23 (take your above sewer charge x 123.3%)
SWRBS	18.09 (take your above sewer base charge x 123.3%)
PUBFR	8.22 (same as above)
STORM	2.75 (same as above)
GARBG	18.50 (same as above)

$101.03 projected total monthly charge

You may have a couple of questions that come to mind and here's a few I thought of:

We wish

Why now? Why do we need a new waste water treatment plant given that the present one is working well?

Given that it's nearly 40 years old, it is working well but it no longer meets the Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) requirements for effluent (what we put back into the Chetek River after its been treated) nor could it even if we chose to do a “remodel” instead of a “new build”. What's more if something breaks, it is increasingly difficult to find replacement parts given its age. So why now? Because the DNR will no longer give us a “free pass” on the level of phosphorus that returns to the river after the water has been treated. We are on the clock and they are insistent that we get it fixed.

Knowing that this was coming why didn't the city set aside monies for the inevitability of this project?

While we knew this day was eventually coming (nothing lasts forever after all) to just blindly increase sewer rates is neither practical or responsible as we didn't know, say, ten years ago what kind of plant we were going to need or what kind of requirements the DNR would insist on. While you can save for a $20K house (if you can even find one at that price!) you cannot save for a ten million dollar one.

Other than the amount, why is the Rural Development grant such a big deal?

Eligibility for grant money is based on an equation that factors in community need, community median income, current rates, revenues, expenditures and how much fund balance a community has in their sewer utility. Based on those criteria, we were eligible for the very substantial grant from Rural Development that we have been awarded. If forty years ago we had been able to discern and estimate that it would cost us $10 million in 2022 monies and began putting that money aside then by charging residents higher rates year after year, most likely utility customers would have paid for the entire $20 million through rates paid over forty years and we wouldn't have been eligible for the $10 million grant. Since no one has access to a crystal ball, however, the argument is mute. There is just no way to know what your costs will be a generation out.

When does this all start?

Coming to our mail box
by this September

At the May 2022 city council meeting it was the unanimous decision of the council to implement a three-year step program beginning September 1^st. That means that we should expect our sewer rates to increase by 23.3% this September. In September 2023, we should expect them to increase again by 23.3%. And then in September 2024, we should anticipate a third and final increase of 23.3%. The idea is to wade into the water rather than plunge into it.

We appreciate the fact that this information you just read may provoke further questions about your individual water bill. Please don't hesitate to call City Hall at 715-924-4838. We don't relish the fact of increasing your monthly utility bill but unfortunately it's the price of doing business for any municipality regardless of its size.