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Lowellville constructs nearly $1 million in upgrades to wastewater treatment plant
LOWELLVILLE
A $940,000 facility upgrade to the Lowellville wastewater treatment plant at 600 Lowellville Road is almost finished.
The village had construction workers demolish a part of the building in the past month, and workers will be constructing a new facility along with a new lime-slurry system and a bar-screen system.
Rich DeLuca, a technical consultant for the village, said the lime-slurry system will help oxidize some of the water treated. The bar-screen system is a quarter-inch screen that filters debris from wastewater.
Mayor James Iudiciani estimates that all construction will be completed by early January. He said construction has been going on for about two months.
Iudiciani said the village got a low-interest, 20-year loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority to cover the project’s cost. He said the loan will be paid off by Republic Services’ Carbon Limestone Landfill, a large solid-waste dump nearby in Lowellville.
Mike Heher, division manager of Republic Services, said his company financially helped the village build the $3.4 million wastewater treatment plant in 1990 to meet EPA mandates and to treat water runoff from the landfill.
DeLuca said Lowellville was notified by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency last year that it needed both the lime-slurry system and a bar-screen system because the facility was getting old and to help treat increasing amounts of ammonia the plant has been treating that come from Republic Services.
Heher said the upgrades were necessary since there’s been more ammonia coming from the water runoff from his company.
In addition to adding the two new systems, Lowellville and Republic Services are in the middle of negotiations regarding the amount of ammonia the company is sending to the plant and the amount of money Republic Services should be charged for treating the excess ammonia.
“Their permit currently only allows the company to send 140 pounds of ammonia to our plant, but now, they’re sending 250 pounds,” DeLuca said.
DeLuca said the village is hoping that Republic Services will pay a surcharge for the additional ammonia, but that Republic Services is negotiating to eliminate a surcharge.
“We’re basically trying to work out how much we pay the plant every six months for operation,” Heher said. “We’re proposing to pay them the same amount, and they’re asking us to increase payments.”
Iudiciani said the village and Republic Services have met at least four times in negotiations this year.
Neither side could say when negotiations will be completed, but both sides reported they are grateful for the relationship between the village and the company, and that they hope to reach a compromise soon.