STARKVILLE — A long-awaited report on the city’s wastewater treatment plant recommended Starkville Utilities invest $43.8 million in facility upgrades over the next 15 years or so.
Of that, about $9.5 million in upgrades are needed immediately and another $6 million should shortly follow, according to the report.
Wes Cardwell, project lead with Garver Engineers, presented his findings during a more than 90-minute work session that followed a special-call aldermen meeting. The city commissioned the study in March 2023.
Built in 1979, the plant was designed to handle an annual average of up to 5 million gallons per day. Since then, Cardwell said, the city’s population has grown by 60%, and the facility has reached, and in some years exceeded, that gallon load.
By 2044, Cardwell estimated the annual average will rise to 6.8 million gallons per day, meaning without upgrades, the aging and overloaded plant would struggle to treat wastewater to permissible contamination levels before discharging it to Hollis Creek.
The study presented six project “packages,” which Starkville Utilities could handle successively over time. Package A, which is being designed and could start construction next year, should cost $9.47 million and address the plant’s three most critical needs — new aerators for the plant’s two oxidation ditches, an overhaul of its 45-year-old electrical system and an alarm for the chlorine-sulfur dioxide building.
“That’s an example of a small thing that can make a big impact,” Cardwell said of the alarm. “Right now, the plant is not equipped with any kind of detection or alarm that tells staff there is a chlorine leak. Should a cylinder be leaking, chlorine is extremely toxic. Without an alarm … they can open that door and walk right in, and it could lead to a catastrophe.”
The biggest ticket item in Package A, the aerators, will replace six aerators installed in 2019 that failed. The city is suing several companies involved in that project in a case that has been moved to federal court, City Attorney Berk Huskison said.
Starkville Utilities General Manager Edward Kemp said the plant is using temporary aerators until the new ones are in place. Cardwell said the utility should bring on no more than 100,000 gallons in additional daily use to the system (he estimated that’s what 1,000 people would use) until the permanent aerators came online in late 2025/early 2026.
The utility should have $4.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to help fund Package A, including a combined $2.25 million from the city and county, as well as a state match. Mississippi State University, which pushes its wastewater to the city plant, would pitch in about a quarter of the costs, Kemp said, and the utility can seek a combination of financing and grants to fund the rest.
Starkville Utilities has already applied for a grant to fund Package B, a new headworks and screen/grit chamber, valued at $6.02 million, Kemp said.
Four other projects would follow, Kemp said, depending on finances and constructability, to upgrade the plant’s capacity and effectiveness. The most expensive of those, which Kemp said is at least 15 years down the road, is a third oxidation ditch, valued at $10.2 million.
Cardwell noted all the study’s estimates were in “today’s money,” meaning inflation could increase costs over time.
“Chipping away at this makes perfect sense,” Cardwell told the board. “The challenge is, ‘Where do you start?’ That’s what we were hoping to help determine with this (study).”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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