Multi-year, sewer plant upgrades near completion
Tim Landis Business Editor @TimLandisSJR
Nearly $180 million in capacity upgrades begun in 2009 at two Springfield sewer-treatment plants are down to a final few months of construction.
Water began flowing May 1 into the Sugar Creek treatment plant, near interstates 55 and 72, toward the goal of bringing the plant to full capacity later this year or in early 2018, Gregg Humphrey, executive director of Sangamon County Water Reclamation District, said Wednesday. The $54 million project begun in the summer of 2015 followed a $125 million upgrade completed in 2012 at the main Spring Creek treatment plant on Veterans Parkway north of the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Spring Creek construction started in 2009.
"We're running through the treatment process at Sugar Creek to make sure we have it right. So far, everything is going fine" said Humphrey.
In addition to modernizing sewage treatment, greater processing capacity is intended to ease chronic flooding of viaducts and other low-lying areas of the city during heavy rains.
City and water district officials have cautioned that added capacity would ease, not end, flooding from more-than-century-old storm sewers. Torrential rains last August swamped parts of the city, including sections of the Illinois State Fairgrounds. But Humphrey said added capacity at the Spring Creek plant alone has helped. Upgrades of the Spring Creek and Sugar Creek plants will increase overall water-handling capacity by 50 percent.
Here are five questions and answers about the project:
Other than flood control, why were the upgrades necessary?
In 2005, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency found the Springfield plants no longer complied with stricter, sewage-treatment standards, including discharge of "organic" materials such as nitrate and phosphorous.
Customer rates increased 31 percent each year from 2008 to 2012 and 6 percent from 2013 through 2016. Revenue from the rate increases helped fund a combination of bond sales, low-interest loans and federal economic-stimulus dollars to pay for the projects.
What are the project timelines?
Work on the Springfield Creek plant started in 2009 and was completed in 2012. Construction at the Sugar Creek plant started in 2015 and should be completed near the end of this year.
How much is treatment capacity increased?
Spring Creek plant daily capacity increased from 20 million gallons to 32 million, while peak capacity increased from 50 million gallons to 80 million. Daily capacity at the Sugar Creek plant increases from 10 million gallons to 15 million gallons; peak capacity increases from 25 million gallons to 35.5 million gallons.
What is the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District?
The district was formed in 1924 as the Springfield Sanitary District. The district was renamed Springfield Metro Sanitary District in 1986 and became the Sangamon County Water Reclamation District in 2016. The district serves approximately 150,000 residents in the Springfield metro area, including the communities of Chatham, Grandview, Jerome, Leland Grove, Rochester, Sherman and Southern View.
-- Contact Tim Landis: tim.landis@sj-r.com, 788-1536,twitter.com/timlandisSJR.