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City issues bonds to begin complex sewer work

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6:00 PM Friday, July 3, 2009

By Samantha Sommer

Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD — The city is starting the first of many steps toward fixing sewer overflows into local waterways.

The project is required by the Clean Water Act, which requires that cities across the nation devise long-term control plans to stop raw sewage overflows into rivers, streams and creeks during storms.

The city of Springfield continues to negotiate its plan with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, but two of the biggest projects were incorporated into the permit renewal for the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The two projects are the Erie express sewer and treatment plant improvements, including an enhanced high-rate clarifier to catch overflows there and disinfect them.

The city commission recently approved issuing up to $10.2 million in bonds to pay for the design of the projects.

“It’s going to be a fairly complex design,” said Tim Weaver, operations engineer.

The design work on the plant will likely be awarded this summer, Weaver said, and will be done by February 2011. Construction should start in August 2011, and wrap up in August 2013.

A request for proposal for the design of the Erie express sewer will go out early next year, Weaver said. Design work should be done by December 2011, with construction starting in July 2013, and ending in January 2016.

The city estimates the two projects could cost a total of $70 million, Finance Director Mark Beckdahl said.

How the city will pay for the projects and the rest of the long-term control plan hasn’t been decided, he said. The city has discussed charging a storm water utility and other options.

“It’s still up in the air how we are going to handle that,” Beckdahl said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0363 or ssommer@coxohio.com.

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