LOTT looks at low-interest loan to rehabilitate sludge processing plant

LOTT may have to take out a loan to finance the restoration of a waste-handling facility.

Capital Planning Manager Tyle Zuchowski updated the LOTT Clean Water Alliance about the rehabilitation project of the county’s centrate handling facility during a work session last Wednesday, June 14.

The components of the centrate handling facility, built in the 1950s and repurposed to manage centrate in 2015, are reaching the end of their useful life and need to be rehabilitated.

Centrate is an ammonia-rich byproduct of the sludge dewatering process, the practice of minimizing waste by volume to prepare for its effective disposal.

“That facility was dedicated [to] managing centrate. The facility allows us to sequester centrate and lead it into the treatment process to protect the biological treatment process and settle out there meeting solids for that. It's critical to have that ability to keep that process running efficiently,” said Zuchowski.

The project will replace the roof structure and odor treatment system, implement seismic retrofits, refurbish corroded structural components, and upgrade the facility’s electrical systems. Flow control improvements will also be made to facilitate dual use as auxiliary wet weather primary treatment during peak flow events.

According to the staff report, LOTT intends to file a low-interest loan application through the Public Works Board in the amount of $8.2 million to fund the $10,544,020 project.

“We'll be seeking Public Works Board alone. We've had a great track record. It provides a great value to the repair at 1.39% interest for 20 years,” Zuchowski said.

The project is a good candidate for potential funding because it rehabilitates an existing facility to current standards, serves multiple purposes to meet current and future needs, postpones or alleviates the need for additional costly facilities to manage climate change impacts, and provides opportunities to reduce LOTT’s carbon footprint with the addition of solar panels.

The project design is expected to be completed by the fall of 2023, with construction to begin in 2024.

“We're wrapping up design. We expect to 90% the deliverable here first of the month in July. We hope to be out to bid by late fall and then under construction in early next year,” Zuchowski added.