Committee Recommends Approval Of Bypass Elimination Plan Initiatives

The Utility Committee of the Trenton City Council is recommending that the city move forward with three initiatives of its bypass elimination plan for the wastewater system and review a fourth after the first of the year in an effort to meet a July 1, 2019 deadline set by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
During a meeting on Tuesday night, the committee heard information from representatives of Burns and McDonnell, who are developing the plan for the city as part of a settlement agreement between the city and DNR. The plan is designed to eliminate sewage bypassing the wastewater treatment plant during wet weather events as well as implementation of disinfection of the discharge into Muddy Creek at the wastewater plant.
City Administrator/Trenton Municipal Utility Director Ron Urton said the three initiatives involve headworks and influent pumping, disinfection and lagoon blending and effluent pumping. All three initiatives will involve construction projects, which Urton indicated will cost the city $4.7 million. The fourth initiative, which will be looked at after Jan. 1 when a more definitive answer is hopefully known about the status of ConAgra, would add another $1.5 million to the project, making the entire cost $6.2 million. Urton noted that the city has $2.7 million available in participation bonds to finance a portion of the work, but that additional debt would need to be issued to pay for the rest of the cost.
Two other initiatives on the list, installation of clarifier launder covers and a new storage building, will be put on hold. Urton said it is hoped that work could be done with existing personnel.
Burns and McDonnell based the financial information regarding payment for the work based on several assumptions, including no ConAgra usage after 2018. In addition, the firm assumed stable use of the system by all other customers, cost reductions based on usage, no additional debt issuances and rate increases already approved by the council. However, Urton noted that revenues have been lower than originally anticipated, due to persons cutting back on water usage and the projected savings with reduced usage has not yet been realized. Burns and McDonnell indicated that the proposed 26 percent rate increase planned in May 2018 may not be to meet minimum requirements for funding of existing debt as required by law.
The committee looked at four scenarios, two involving no ConAgra after 2018 and two with a partial use of the facility at ConAgra (40 percent). The funding scenarios also outlined the city adding $2 million and $4 million to its debt service based on how much of the project is actually done. The scenarios were used to estimate potential rate increases, which range from 48 percent (based on $4 million debt) and 44 percent ($2 million debt) in 2019 without ConAgra and 8 percent ($4 million) and 5 percent ($2 million) with ConAgra. Percentages were also figured for 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The council is anticipated to consider the recommendations at its meeting on Monday, Oct. 23.
In other business, Urton gave an update on efforts to determine a cause for some household service lines having a higher level of lead than allowed by DNR and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Urton said water samples have been taken at schools, day care centers and the women’s shelter and have been delivered for lab testing, with those results anticipated by the end of this week. He said the Grundy County Health Department has collected samples at local restaurants, which have also been sent off for testing, and that additional sample kits have been purchased to test Wright Memorial Hospital, the Physicians Clinic and local nursing homes. Once results have been received, the entities tested will be notified of the results.
“We are trying to eliminate all the places we can that don’t have an issue and find those that need to be studied further,” Urton said,. “We are working with DNR to find the cause and what it will take to correct it.”
An recent testing of 20 residential locations in Trenton resulted in three of them having higher than allowable levels of lead in the water, which triggered the DNR to require Trenton to make a public announcement on the testing done. Testing at the water plant revealed no problems with lead levels.
Urton said Trenton has complied with the DNR request by sending letters to water customers, posting on business bulletin boards, providing information to the news media and calls to those living in the affected areas. Trenton has submitted certification of its public education efforts to the DNR.
TMU has obtained its own supplies to do more water sampling and will increase the frequency, Urton said. Local officials will also continue to evaluate options for addressing the situation with lead service lines in older sections of Trenton.