The City Council on Monday voted 5-0 to approve a consent order issued by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality amending the scheduled construction of the Waste-Water Treatment Plant expansion project.
The previous consent order had construction starting in June 2026 and completion by September 2030; however, the ODEQ has approved a request by the City to begin construction in 2027, with a 2031 completion date. The delay is primarily due to the complexity of the Indirect Potable Reuse component and the need for additional testing not anticipated in the 2023 schedule, said Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen.
“Since the early 1990s, the City has made substantial investments to improve the wastewater system and eliminate bypasses — instances where wastewater leaves the collection system before treatment,” Lauritsen said. “To date, more than $43 million has been spent addressing these issues. Through ongoing studies and completed projects, most system capacity problems have been resolved, leaving the treatment plant and several pump stations along the Caney River corridor as the remaining major bottlenecks. A facility plan completed in 2010 identified the necessary improvements, and the plan was updated in 2017.”
Over the past 25 years, the ODEQ has used consent orders to ensure the City identifies and corrects capacity limitations. A consent order is an agreement between the City and ODEQ that outlines specific deficiencies and sets deadlines for resolving them, while allowing the City flexibility to determine time frames for the various tasks.
The current consent order, issued in 2020 and most recently amended in November 2023, requires the City to expand and renovate the wastewater treatment plant in accordance with the facility plan, as well as upgrade pump stations along the Caney River corridor.
In September 2025, the City notified ODEQ that it would not meet an upcoming deadline and requested an amendment.
“The ODEQ has been receptive to our request and has issued a revised consent order,” Lauritsen said. “Due to the age of the original order, ODEQ elected to close it and issue a new agreement.”
Following is a summary of the tasks within the consent order approved by the Council Monday:
- Sept. 1, 2026 – Submit approvable plans and specifications for the improvements and rehabilitation of the Chickasaw Waste-Water Treatment Plant (WWTP).
- June 1, 2027 – Begin construction on the WWTP improvements.
- Oct.1, 2029 – Submit approvable plans and specifications for the expansion of the Shawnee lift station improvements as outlined in the approved engineering report.
- June 1, 2030 – Begin construction of the Shawnee lift station expansion.
- June 1, 2030 – Submit approvable plans and specifications for the Hillcrest and Golf Course lift station improvements as outlined in the approved engineering report.
- Feb. 1, 2031 – Begin construction of Hillcrest and Golf Course lift station improvements.
- Feb. 1, 2031 – Submit approvable plans and specifications for the Limestone lift station.
- Sept. 1, 2031 – Complete construction of the WWTP improvements.
- Sept. 1, 2031 – Complete construction of the Shawnee lift station expansion.
- Oct. 1, 2031 – Begin construction of the Limestone lift station expansion.
- May 1, 2032 – Complete construction of the Hillcrest and Golf Course lift station improvements.
- Jan. 1, 2033 – Complete construction of the Limestone lift station expansion.
The estimated costs associated with these tasks is more than $130 million.