Engineer: MVSD to save $11M with revised plan

By Jordan Cohen

The chief engineer says the new plan would save up to 15 cents a gallon.

NILES — A revised capital improvements program will save the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District nearly $11 million, the district’s chief engineer told city officials.

Tom Holloway said Wednesday the original plan submitted in 1995 would have cost more than $29 million, but a revised plan that contains substantially new technology is projected to cost only $18 million.

The MVSD provides water to Niles and Youngstown. The district recently began marketing its water under the name Meander Water.

Holloway said the new plan, developed by MS Consultants, Youngstown, calls for construction of two solids contact clarifiers to treat the water and the addition of a process called recarbonization, which removes calcium carbonate from the water and protects equipment.

“This process captures more solids in the bottom of the clarifier so the water is cleaner,” Holloway said, adding that the process lengthens the life of the filters and will require much less use of power.

“We could save up to 15 cents a gallon because of these improvements,” Holloway said.

The original plan included rehabilitation of six clarifiers, but technology for those improvements is outdated, said Matt Blair, MVSD board president.

“The new technology is more efficient, so it’s a no-brainer from our standpoint,” Blair said.

The six clarifiers would be eliminated once the project is completed.

The board has to present the plan to its Court of Jurisdiction, composed of a common pleas court judge from both Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

The court also approves the rates MVSD charges for a three-year period with current rates in place until 2010.

Holloway said the rate structure is likely to be modified at that time, but Blair said it was too early to determine if the new system will mean lower water rates.

“I know that we will save hundreds of thousands in interest over the years with this newer project,” Holloway said.

The head of council’s utilities committee, Edward McCormick, called the proposal “a good recommendation and a good solution.”

Holloway said after Court of Jurisdiction and Environmental Protection Agency approval of the project, construction could begin by next summer.

He said the project’s costs already have been factored into the current rates approved by the court.