Water treatment plant cost tops $14 mln

The Olney City Council voted unanimously to approve plans for a new water treatment plant that will cost $14.4 million -- nearly $1 million more than called for in the original budget. The overage stems from a delay of several months in getting approval for the plant from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. However, that delay allowed the City’s $13.5 million revenue bonds - now drawing nearly 5 percent interest - to accrue nearly the entire cost of the overage, City Secretary Tammy Hourigan told the Council at its Aug. 14 meeting.

The Council approved a plan recommended by project engineers Corlett Probst & Boyd that includes new concrete clear wells, an upgrade to the raw water pump station, and changing the plastic liner at the Lake Kickapoo reservoir for a concrete liner.

Corlett Probst & Boyd put the contract for the new water treatment plant out for bid to two “plan rooms,” where construction companies can access the plans, City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon said.

Public Works Director Michael Jacoba said the new liner and pump station, which were presented to the Council as options, were important to achieving improved water quality.

“With the Lake Cooper water that we have this time of year - it has that earthy, dirty taste to it. If we bump it up to that Kickapoo Reservoir we can let that water settle out a lot better and we won’t have any of the taste and odor problems we have had in the past,” Mr. Jacoba said. “All that stuff will have settled out and it will be a lot easier to treat using less chemicals with the new plant.”

Building a pipline between the two reservoirs is not part of the water treatment plant plans, but could be constructed “when and if necessary,” Mayor Pro Tem Tom Parker said.

“We all agree that water is a priority for the City of Olney,” Mr. Parker said after the vote. “I just want to make sure we’re all in.”