Plans for Troy WW Treatment Plant project stalled
By Josh Jones
Times Tribune Editor
TROY — During the recent Troy Public Works Committee meeting, the committee addressed that Troy was not selected as a part of this year’s projects to receive a State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan from the Illinois EPA for its Waste Water Treatment Plant project.
According to the IEPA website, the Wastewater and Drinking Water loan programs provide low-interest loans through the State Revolving Fund (SRF). The SRF includes two loan programs: the Water Pollution Control Loan Program (WPCLP), that Troy applied for, which funds both wastewater and stormwater projects, and the Public Water Supply Loan Program (PWSLP) for drinking water projects. These programs are annually the recipients of federal capitalization funding which is combined with state matching funds, interest earnings, repayment money, and the sale of bonds to form a source of financing for infrastructure projects.
“We did score, which means the engineering firm provided all the documents needed to be scored,” said Public Works Director Robert Hancock. “The fact of the matter is that there is about $3 billion worth of need in the state and they had $612 million to give out.”
Hancock said that this leaves Troy in the category of “scored, but funds exhausted”, meaning that if there were funds available Troy would qualify. Being in that category means that if recipients of the funding failed to follow the guidelines of the loan, the funds are then directed to the next highest scored project in the “scored, but funds exhausted” category. Hancock said he does not expect Troy to be selected during the bypass period, which means waiting another year regarding the project.
Hancock explained why he thinks Troy scored low regarding getting a loan for the project.
“We are not under any restrictions and we don’t constantly have any violations,” Hancock said. “Our plant runs well, it is operated well. We are simply hydraulically overloaded.”
Hancock noted that there was a positive aspect to this situation.
“The positive thing is that we were able to bank some additional reserves,” Hancock said. “While we are waiting… we can continue to make improvements to the sewer system to reduce that I/I.”
According to various online sources I/I or Infiltration/Inflow is the process of groundwater, or water from sources other than domestic wastewater, entering sanitary sewers. I/I causes dilution in sanitary sewers, which decreases the efficiency of treatment, and may cause sewage volumes to exceed design capacity.
Hancock said while he didn’t have any data, he believes the sewer improvements they made on Wickliffe and Clay Street have contributed to lowering I/I.
“Our only real choke point now is at the terminal lift station and when we do have to bypass a pump there, it is for a much shorter period of time,” Hancock said.
City Administrator Jay Keeven said that the IEPA is willing to sit down with the city to go over where they could possibly score better in future applications.
“I think that is smart move to sit down with them and go through where we might score better, that way we can number one show we are making a good faith effort to try to do well, and maybe they will remember your name when they grade them next time, Keeven said. “Number two it also gives us an opportunity to do some things a little differently that might raise our score.”
Hancock said that currently the waste water treatment plant is operating at an average daily flow of 1.2 million gallons and the city is permitted for 1.35 million gallons of average daily flow.
“We are very close. The way they calculate our average daily flow is from the three driest months of the year. Last year we had a drought, July, August, September you saw average daily flows in the 800,000 to the 900,000 gallon per day range,” Hancock said. “That is why we are not in violation. We exceed our permit in the spring, we might exceed our permit during the winter when there is a thaw going, but that average daily flow is calculated on the driest months of the year.”
Hancock said that the city also looked at taking out a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA), which is through the federal EPA.
“Unfortunately the State of Illinois won’t allow you to begin construction without a SRF loan. We were looking at that initially as a bridge, start the project, get the SRF funding approved, pay that off with the SRF funding,” Hancock said. “It won’t work that way. The EPA will not allow construction to begin without the approval of the SRF loan.”
Hancock said when they started with the design of the project they were looking at $30 million dollars, but like with many things that number has gone up post COVID.
“That is why we are at $55 million now,” Hancock said.
It was asked if the option was still there to sell the plant.
“That option is there,” Hancock said.
When asked about making modifications instead of a full project, Hancock said that they know that the plant’s capacity has to increase.
“The biggest portion of this project is the plant, but we could look at downsizing the treatment operation or maintaining that 3.5 (million gallons) average daily flow, by reducing the peak. We could look at a redesign of the terminal lift station, because that is our choke point to increase the flow from the terminal lift station,” Hancock said. “We could look at an excess flow tank. By building a tank to hold some of that excess I/I and then step-feed it back into the system after the event is over. There are a couple options to look at.”
Hancock warned though that new treatment requirements for phosphorus are coming.
“We currently have about two to three milligrams per liter of phosphorus discharge,” Hancock said. “It is going to go down to one or possibly .05 and our existing plant cannot treat that biologically. We are going to have to do some kind of chemical addition and possibly a tertiary cloth filter… That is going to be upon us when our permit expires in 2025. We can get an extension on that, because we are working towards a plan to expand and modify our plant. But I think the drop dead date for that is going to be 2030.”
The committee continued to weigh its options at the conclusion of the meeting.
