Starkville Utilities Department is preparing to install new equipment to sustainably handle sludge at the city’s wastewater plant after aldermen approved a $10 million bond issue on Tuesday.
Starkville Utilities General Manager Terry Kemp told The Dispatch bonds will help fund an addition to the wastewater plant that will grant the department the ability to treat the sludge without relying on the city’s tapped-out lagoon on Sand Road.
“One of the major issues we’ve faced for some time is the lagoon and the sludge in the lagoon are to the point that we’re out of capacity,” Kemp said. “A decision needed to be made, and over the summer we identified a renewable process that would take sludge and convert it to a usable product through treatment and drying.”
The new process, Kemp said, is more sustainable than dredging the sludge out of the lagoon, which would be expensive and eventually put the city back in the same place of having to deal with a near-capacity lagoon. Starkville Utilities had also considered raising the sides of the lagoon, which would also only delay the problem of limited capacity.
He said the treatment process will take sludge and turn it into what is essentially dirt that can be used for growing plants.
“It will have some lime and some nutrients in it,” Kemp said. “Because of the nutrients, it could be used for yards, planting flowers, pastures and things like that. The odor will be gone and could be used for that type of thing.”
Starkville Utilities will repay the bonds with customer revenue, although Kemp said rates are not expected to increase to do it. The bonds also won’t count against the city’s credit rating.
Mayor Lynn Spruill applauded the utilities department for looking at a sustainable method to handle the sludge problem at the lagoon and wastewater plant.
“That’s one of those things we couldn’t do differently, in that we had to do it,” she said. “To do it so that it’s sustainable is amazing, and I couldn’t be happier that we’re taking that approach. That is, to me, a responsible approach that any city should take.”
Kemp said Starkville Utilities Department will put the project out for bid “fairly soon.” He hopes to have the sludge treatment online by spring 2020.
He said the goal with the new project is to move away from using the lagoon. While the exact age of the lagoon was unavailable on Wednesday, Kemp said it sits on about 25 acres and is eight to 10 feet deep.
“Basically, what this will be doing is through this process we will begin to get away from using the lagoon,” Kemp said. “We will maintain the lagoon and will use it as an emergency backup. As far as long-term practical use, we will continue to divert from the lagoon.
“Over time, you’ll start seeing some settling at the lagoon,” Kemp added. “The size for the actual need for more capacity will reduce.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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