The City Council on Monday approved an Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality consent order outlining $49 million in improvements to the city’s wastewater collection system by 2027. The improvements, which were already under planning by the City, include an expansion of the existing Chickasaw Wastewater Treatment Plant and improvements to pump/lift stations located in the Caney River Corridor.
Improvements to the city’s wastewater collection system have been underway since the City received its first consent decree from the Environmental Protection Agency in 1989, requiring a reduction in the city’s “bypass events.” These events occur when rainwater enters the sewer system through cracks or broken pipes during heavy rainfall, causing the system to exceed capacity and become overloaded.
Over the past 25 years, more than $38.5 million has been spent making the required improvements to the system, significantly reducing storm water inflow and infiltration as well as improving the capacity of the collection system. By the 2010s, the City had reduced its bypass events from 100 -150 per rain event to fewer than five, Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen told the council this week.
Lauritsen said additional improvements required by the ODEQ are significant and involve increasing the existing capacity of the sanitary sewer treatment plant as well as making improvements to the lines and lift stations along the Caney River pump corridor. The corridor starts at Hillcrest Country Club and through Shawnee at the Bartlesville High School, where the wastewater is lifted from the south end of the city north to the treatment plant, located on Tuxedo Boulevard.
“We’re going to do four pump station improvements — the first one, which we consider a storm water pump station diversion, is at the intersection of Silver Lake Road and Rice Creek Road,” Lauritsen said. “That pump station diverts flow to an existing flow equalization basin that sits by the river. The land that we bought in 2012 is suitable for another larger flow equalization basin so we can utilize that in conjunction with the existing one. And then we have to do pump and force main improvements on the various lift stations as it progresses to the wastewater treatment plant.”
Lauritsen said the estimated cost for these improvements is $49 million.
Under the current consent order, the City is required to complete the following schedule:
- September 1, 2020 – Hire an Engineering Consulting firm to design and prepare construction documents for the wastewater treatment plant expansion and upgrades to the Caney River pumping corridor.
- October 1, 2022 – Submit an engineering report to the ODEQ for the proposed improvements to the wastewater treatment plant and Caney River pumping corridor.
- February 1, 2023 – Submit the construction plans and specifications to the ODEQ for the construction of improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.
- June 1, 2023 – Begin construction on the wastewater treatment plant improvements.
- April 1, 2027 – Complete construction of the wastewater treatment plant improvements
The City will likely pursue a low interest loan from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to finance the improvements, which will be repaid with Wastewater Capital Fees, implemented in 2015.