Trustees of the Tahlequah Public Works Authority learned about the long-range water and wastewater capital improvement plans, with an estimated cost of around $135 million.
The handout given to trustees during the Jan. 17 meeting by Steve Tolar, HUD Engineering, listed items for future expansion, rehabilitation or replacement to meet new regulations.
The last three on the list detail the phases to change the location of wastewater discharge from the Illinois River to Pecan Creek.
Tolar reminded the board that problems with the wastewater plant caused by illegal dumping in manholes has brought a lot of attention to the discharge of treated water into the Illinois River.
“Ultimately, [dumping into the Illinois River] is going to have to change, and I’ve heard from regulators already that at some point, Tahlequah will have to stop,” Tolar said. “Your next best option is to go west with it in what we call Pecan Creek. I think Pecan Creek eventually becomes Ranger Creek, and that ends in Fort Gibson.”
He said it will be a long and dedicated effort to get a new wastewater plant approved, and it’s something that isn’t started until it becomes necessary.
“When you get there you want to know you have a plan for it, and my concept for that is a three-phase approach where we would build rudimentary facilities at a location around Pecan Creek. There are dozens of properties in that area that would work,” Tolar said.
The first step would be rehabbing the wastewater treatment plant, and since capital funds would be spent, the plant needs to be used until the “end of its useful life,” Tolar said.
“So that probably means there’s a phase where we are sending treated effluent through a long, forced vein to discharge in the other watershed,” Tolar said. “Then as we see continued growth on the west side of town, you don’t want to send your flows to the treatment plant, treat it and repump it to get right back where you were.”
Phase 2 would probably eventually be a 2.0 million gallons-per-day treatment facility at the Pecan Creek location. When the existing plant reaches its useful life, it would be shut down and raw sewage would be pumped to the new location, Tolar said.
“The new treatment facility would be expanded to about 10.0 MGD,” Tolar said. “Those are big numbers, and a long time ago, wastewater treatment was about $1 a gallon, and now it’s about $10-$14 a gallon.”
The expansion is estimated to be about $65 million, and by the time it is built, it will be closer to $200 million, Tolar said.
“I think this is sooner than later. Do you agree?” Chair Scott Wright asked.
Tolar said it is driven more by regulation, and that is out of TPWA’s hands, Tolar said.
“It’s going to be more of a regulatory and political decision than a growth or an engineering decision,” Tolar said.
Trustee Mark Gish wanted to know if the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality is requiring the change, and Tolar said it is, in conjunction with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
“It’s kind of a two-prong approach; DEQ is responsible for enforcing the regulations and OWRB is responsible for classifying streams and determining what treatment limits you have to provide,” Tolar said. “So a change of either agency could trigger something.”
About four to five years is the time period these agencies usually give for a change of this nature, Tabor said.
“Last time I got a call the question was, ‘How quick can you stop discharging into the Illinois River?’” said General Manager Mike Doublehead. “Followed by, ‘Can you pump your treated water to the west of town and not discharge into the Illinois River?’”
Tolar said one thing not talked about is the fact that the wastewater plant has some of the toughest discharge limits in the state.
“It actually has a water treatment plant after the wastewater plant, so we get great affluent out of it, and that is the benefit of moving to Pecan Creek, you wouldn’t have near the discharge permit requirements you have here. It also gets you out of the phosphorus issues in the Illinois River, so there are some benefits to it,” Tolar said.
Doublehead said the $135 million number didn’t include electrical expansions, transformers, line upgrade, or the cost of equipment that it takes to maintain TPWA’s system.
“The first time I saw a number for a bucket truck it was over $100,000 when I was on the board of Stilwell Utilities, and a bucket truck today is [$250,000],” Doublehead said. “These capital improvements don’t include what it takes day-to-day to operate the systems.”
What’s next
The next TPWA meeting is Feb. 21, 9 a.m., at 710 W. Choctaw St.