Fayetteville's old, inactive

sewer plant will be renovated and refurbished to provide enough wastewater

treatment capacity for more than 10,000 additional future residents, the

City Council decided without a formal vote last week.

The $5.76 million expense will

be paid for by borrowing against future sewer revenues. No tax money will

be used, officials said, and sewer revenue bonds don't require a voter

referendum for approval. A formal council vote is expected when the project

goes beyond the design phase and reaches the bidding stage.

The city's current sewage treatment

plant can only handle up to 2.5 million gallons a day. The city is permitted

gallons a day into Whitewater Creek; before the old plant was mothballed

it could treat up to 1.25 million gallons of sewage a day.

The renovation project, however,

will double the capacity of the old plant to 2.5 million gallons, giving

the city a capacity of treating 5 million gallons a day. That will allow

the current sewer plant to be taken off line periodically for maintenance,

a luxury the city doesn't have at this time, officials said.

Fayetteville's population is

expected to almost double in the next 11 years from 13,277 this year to

25,205 in 2014. But in the past 10 years, the strength of the sewage has

increased largely because of the various restaurants that have opened

since then, officials said.

While roughly 5 percent of

the wastewater coming from households is pure waste, that percentage is

much higher from restaurants, said city water and sewer Director Rick

Eastin.

The result has been an increased

level of biochemical oxygen demand in the city's sewage, which requires

more oxygen to be introduced during the treatment process to clean the

water, Eastin said.

In 2002, the city treated 31

million gallons of sewage from private residences and another 11 million

for all other uses including businesses, restaurants and the city's biggest

sewer customer: the Fayette County Board of Education, which has several

school campuses in the city limits.

City Manager Joe Morton said

he expects the city will actually need to treat between 3.65 and 4 million

gallons a day when the city reaches its build out stage. Those figures

were developed without considering any areas outside the city's boundaries

that might be annexed.

So far this year, the city

has treated an average of 2.06 million gallons a day of wastewater, officials

said.

The city plans to fund the

estimated $5.76 million project through revenue bonds, which do not require

a public referendum. Mayor Ken Steele said this is appropriate since the

city's water and sewer program is completely paid for by user fees and

not subsidized by city tax revenues at all.

"If you use the water

and if you flush the toilet, you pay the price," Steele said.

At this point, the city projects

it will not have to raise its sewer rates for the next five years despite

the rehab program for the old plant. The last time the city's sewer rate

changed it was actually lowered in 1992, officials said.

The refurbished sewer plant

will allow the city to further improve its treatment of wastewater by

the addition of several filters also, Eastin noted.

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