La Plata water upgrade moving swiftly

Expansion needed to serve projects already in pipeline

Friday, July 18, 2008

La Plata’s director of operations, Robert Stahl Jr., updated the town council during a work session Tuesday evening about the phased project that will slowly expand the treatment plant to accommodate the town’s expected build-out by 2020 that includes the construction of a little more than 5,000 homes.

The upgrade will include installing a state-mandated enhanced nutrient removal system and a large tank that will be able to handle overflows at the plant during heavy rain storms, Stahl said. No cost estimate for the expansion has been calculated, yet, he said.

When the project is completed, the plant will have the capacity to treat 2.5 million gallons of wastewater a day, up from the current 1.5 million gallons, Stahl said.

The biggest problem with the town’s infrastructure is the infiltration and inflow of stormwater into the sewer system which causes overflows at manholes and at times causes raw sewage and treated effluent to discharge into the Port Tobacco River, town officials said.

During heavy rain storms, the plant’s capacity is stretched to 3 million gallons a day which right now is impossible to treat before it is discharged into the river, Stahl said.

‘‘Inflow and infiltration is always going to be a problem for the sewer system,” he said during the work session. ‘‘Our goal is to reduce the inflow and infiltration that is coming into the system.”

To remedy the problem there are several infrastructure improvements under way, Stahl said, adding that the constant problem the town has been experiencing with a couple of manholes in town will be addressed very soon.

A new sewer line that will run from Burger King on U.S. 301 to the plant will eliminate overflows at the Centennial Street manhole, Stahl said. In addition, the pump station on Willow Lane will be upgraded to take care of overflows in that area.

A new force main will be installed along La Grange Avenue to Charles Street and tie in with the treatment plant on Curley Hall Road, Stahl said, adding that the three projects are in the design stage right now and the town is awaiting permits from the Maryland Department of the Environment.

The upgrade to the treatment plant and the infrastructure will be paid for primarily from the collection of the town’s $8,525 major facility fee and a low-interest MDE loan, Stahl said. The MFF is paid by everyone who builds new commercial or residential property in town to hook up to the water and sewer system.

Three projects have already been completed, including the construction of a new pump station along Washington Avenue, Stahl said. The old pump station was left in place in the event that a major weather event calls for the town to split the flow traveling to the plant between Washington Avenue and U.S. 301 to avoid overflows.

The town is also planning on sinking a new well that appears to offer more capacity than what was first anticipated, Stahl said.

‘‘The capacity of the well is turning out much better than what we originally anticipated,” he said. ‘‘We’re seeing a tremendously larger volume of water that what we expected.”

The town’s MDE water appropriation permit must also be increased to 2.5 million gallons a day to handle the projected growth in town during the next decade, Stahl said.

The town is taking a phased approach to expanding the plant and its capacity because it is uncertain just how much of the expected growth in town, particularly residential development, will occur because of the sharp downturn in the economy, Stahl said.

‘‘Clearly we’re seeing an economic turndown and we don’t want our residents to pay for growth that is projected for the future,” he said. ‘‘We’re not going to move forward with the growth of the treatment plant too fast. We don’t want to jump too far ahead of the curve.”

Stahl warned the council that the town is going to have to search for another method of disposing of excess treated effluent in the future because the state does not allow more than 2 million gallons a day of it to be discharged into the waterways.

Some options the council might consider are using spray irrigation, rapid infiltration or selling excess treated effluent to local power companies to help generate electricity, Stahl said.

‘‘Treated effluent is going to be a very saleable product in the future,” he said. ‘‘It could turn into a revenue source for the town.”

It is essential that the town work with the county and surrounding jurisdictions to conserve as much groundwater as possible, Stahl said.

‘‘We’ve got to work together with other jurisdictions to see what will make reasonable sense,” he said. ‘‘We’ve got to consistently work on that. We’ve got to work out some solutions.”

Ward 4 Councilman Vic Newman asked if the town could possibly tie into the county’s water and sewer system to help provide the utilities to the proposed Heritage Green mixed-use community slated for construction off Rosewick Road.

Stahl said that when the extension of Rosewick Road is completed the county’s water and sewer lines will be right up to the edge of the town’s northern limits.

‘‘An interconnection at that point is very, very close,” he said.

Ward 1 Councilman Jim Goldsmith asked if the town could install lines to carry treated effluent to commercial and residential areas while the infrastructure improvements are under way to save the cost of installing them later. The town wants to use treated effluent instead of groundwater in some cases such as residential irrigation systems.

‘‘It makes sense that while we’re laying the new infrastructure to lay effluent lines at the same time, but there are challenges with that,” Stahl said. ‘‘Some developers are more on board with that than others. It’s going to be an educational process. We’ve got a lot of hurdles to overcome, but we’ve got time to do that.”

Goldsmith said that it appears that the town is on the right track regarding the improvements to the infrastructure and conserving water.

‘‘We’ve got a much better handle on this situation than we had three years ago,” he said.

‘‘During this past year we’ve had significant upgrades to our system and significant progress has been made with our treatment plant,” Mears said.

‘‘We’ve got a good handle on how we’ll be able to provide the capacity that will be needed.”