Wastewater treatment plant needs $4.8 million in repairs
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Millions of dollars in repairs are needed at the Town of Amherst's wastewater treatment plant, and the Town Board has questioned if the best firm for the job has been found.

During Monday's Town Board meeting, Town Engineer Jeff Burroughs requested $4.8 million be bonded to repair the plant's 26-year-old filtration system.

Although the board approved the bond, members indicated another request for proposals will be needed. The bond was approved without the current design contractor, who had previously responded to an RFP.

Employees working on the project started soliciting firms to do the work in

million in repairs

April 2005, and four responded. Burroughs said the selected contractor, Malcolm Pirnie, is "highly specialized and has done this type of replacement before."

It is estimated that the current system is working at 4 percent of capacity.

Without improvements, the filtration system will continue to deteriorate, risking total failure. The plant could be subject to a consent order from the Department of Conservation that would place the town on a mandated schedule to complete the work. Not complying with a consent order carries fines up to $10,000 a day.

The project, called a diamond cloth media system, would be the best option for the treatment plant, according to Jeff Angiel, the retreatment coordinator.

He said the cost to rebuild the current sand filter system is $75,868 per million gallons per day, and the proposed diamond system would cost $67,852 per MGD. A rebuilt sand filter would produce approximately 60 MGD, and the diamond system works at approximately 72 MGD.

Angiel said energy costs would also be lower with the new system - $10,006 annually compared to $48,244.

During Monday's presentation it was claimed there was no downside to the proposed project, including a decrease from two million to .7 million in the number of recycled gallons of wastewater released.

The diamond system is expected to produce a cleaner product, would operate more efficiently and also allow for using improved disinfection technology.

Residents would be affected by the changeover of the system. The project is estimated to have an annual cost of $8.25 for district 1 and $9.45 for district 16 per $150,000 assessed valuation.

In addition to public funding, money from grants will be sought.

Council Member Dan Ward, who questioned how the RFP was requested, has suggesting posting them on the Internet.

"Putting an RFP on the Internet is easy and doesn't cost much. It's the widest form of communication for your business," he said, adding that this form of public bidding could have more results - hopefully the lowest cost for taxpayers.

He said at the very least, an RFP on the Internet would generate bids from more firms, not just the "same old, same old" of three or four local companies. That could also create competition and more attractive bid proposals for the Town of Amherst.

With the bond approval passed, the Town Board can either act to request new RFPs or continue with the timeline of the project. According to Monday's presentation, the first RFP process took about nine weeks.