Russell City Council Approves Bid to Upgrade Wastewater Lagoon System

The Russell City Council met Tuesday and approved a bid to upgrade the City's wastewater lagoon system.

In January 2018, City staff began work with RMA Engineering on a Wastewater Collection and Lagoon Treatment Plan to ensure continued compliance with the current National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and issues identified by inflow and infiltration inspection of the main sewer trunk line.

According to City staff, the initial recommendation was to remove the sludge, through wet dredging, from cells one and three to improve the capacity and retention time of the lagoon system.

In the interim, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed new ammonia limits on wastewater systems. The new NPDES permit required the system to become a zero discharge system or mechanical plant to meet the new ammonia requirements. A mechanical plant was estimated to exceed $20 million to construct.

City staff recommended and the Council concurred to move toward becoming a zero discharge system, which would require the City to put cell two into operation, remove the sludge from cells one and three, reconstruct them with an even base, and modify the headworks.

On August 12, 2021, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) approved the plans and specification for the Wastewater Lagoon System Upgrade project. Upon KDHE approval, bids were solicited. The engineers estimate at bid letting was $4,051,070.50. The City received three bids.

RMA Engineering and City staff recommended the Council accept the low bid from Smoky Hill Construction, contingent on KDHE approval, in the amount of $3,144,137.90 with KDHE loan funds as the funding source. The bid was approved unanimously.

Also Tuesday, the Council approved a construction engineering and inspection agreement with Bartlett and West in the amount of $455,000 for the Water Treatment Plant A Rehabilitation project.

(Information courtesy City of Russell.)