The City of Seward is considering plans for a new $25 million wastewater treatment facility to keep up with the community’s growing population.
The city held an open meeting July 6 with representatives of SEH Engineering, the firm working to design a new, higher-capacity wastewater treatment plant.
The meeting was part of the process to gain state approval for the project.
Jeremiah Wendt, senior professional engineer with SEH, said approval requires projections of population growth over the next 20 years, an evaluation of current facility conditions, a cost analysis, public involvement and the exploration of alternative actions.
Seward City Engineer Mike Oneby, as well as city water and wastewater director Tim Richtig, also were part of the presentation.
“It really takes a number of years to execute a project of this size,” Oneby said.
Wendt said Seward’s population is expected to grow about 1% per year over the next 20 years.
According to U.S. Census numbers, the population grew from 6,964 people in 2010 to 7,643 in 2020. It is expected to reach 9,802 people by 2045.
“We look at those census numbers and how that impacts the flow and loading into the wastewater treatment plant,” Wendt said.
They also account for future industrial growth, such as for large companies that may come to the Seward-Lincoln Regional Rail Campus.
“We have planned for 20 years of residential growth, 20 years of commercial growth and 20 years of industrial growth,” Oneby said.
Seward’s current wastewater treatment plant processes 1.5 million gallons of wastewater per day on average.
That includes everything from toilet waste to what drains down the kitchen sink to rainwater running down the street.
The plant can handle a peak flow of 7.1 million gallons, such as during a significant rain event.
The plant was built in 1959 and saw significant upgrades in 1977, but it hasn’t had many updates since.
Ultraviolet disinfection components were added in 2010 to disinfect the water before it dumps into the Blue River, but those components are in a floodplain and need to be raised up.
Some of the components still use 1959 technology.
Not only is the plant outdated, it makes it difficult for the operators to control what’s going on, Wendt said.
“It’s a very corrosive environment, so these – understandably – break down over time,” he said. “It is beyond its intended lifespan and can no longer handle additional growth. We don’t have the pumping capacity to keep up with these peak flows we’re expecting.”
Wendt said parts of the existing plant can be reused with updates and modifications, while integrating new components to expand capacity and update technology.
SEH considered three different types of systems for a new plant, with the three ranging in cost from approximately $25 million to $50 million for construction.
The firm also considered the environmental impact of each type of system and how many chemicals must be used in the treatment process.
The winner – a sequencing batch reactor system – was most favorable in all aspects, Wendt said, with the lowest cost and smallest environmental impact.
The new plant could be paid for solely through user fees or through loans.
If no outside funding is secured and the city chooses to pay for it by raising wastewater usage rates, Wendt said the average user’s annual bill would go from about $438 to about $829.
“Basically, that’s what we’re thinking is worst case,” Oneby said.
However, City Administrator Greg Butcher said the city would likely pursue a low-interest loan to cover the project.
USDA Rural Development offers loans with up to a 40-year ammortization period, while the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund offers low-interest loans with up to 30% forgiveness.
Butcher said now is the time to apply for state and federal dollars because “funding is widely available.”
Design for the new plant is expected to be finalized and submitted for state approval next spring.
Construction could begin as early as summer 2023 and could be complete by 2025.
If the city does nothing to update the plant, the state could issue a mandate for upgrades, Butcher said.
“We don’t want to get behind the eightball where the state is mandating an upgrade,” Butcher said.
Richtig said the city currently has one full-time wastewater operator. Once it switches to the new system, it will need a second full-time, fully certified operator.
A public hearing on the matter is expected at the July 19 city council meeting.
