MMU explores need for new wastewater disinfection system

At their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 27, Marshall Municipal Utilities Board of Public Works members discussed the need for a new wastewater disinfection system.

The board approved Environmental Services Director Ginny Ismay's recommendation to solicit statements of qualifications for engineering firms for design of a new wastewater disinfection system.

Although MMU is currently in compliance with DNR regulations, its new discharge permit will require that all effluent water be disinfected during the "recreational season" by the end of 2013, said Ismay.

The budget for the study is $30,000.

Also approved were requested repairs to the aeration basin at a budget of $103,000.

Board members voted to send requests for qualifications for an engineering firm to approve MMU designs of water and sewer lines in the area of North Hamner Avenue and North Lafayette Avenue.

An engineer must approve the design to meet Missouri Department of Natural Resources requirements, said Underground Facilities Director Monty Chase. He estimated the cost at between $2,000 and $3,000.

The project is only in its planning stages, said Chase, but he hopes to start work on it by the spring of 2010.

The board approved an additional payment of $3,344.63 to I-Con Underground LLC, a company that installed pipe for MMU in the summer of 2009.

The company's initial request was for $5,713.63 for the extra 17 feet of pipe installed, requesting $57.39 per foot, and the "extra cost of the bypass pumping required by the Habilitation Center," wrote Chase.

Through discussions with company personnel, that amount was lowered to $3,344.63.

Chase recommended that MMU "pay the additional cost, less than they wanted, to settle this matter."

Ismay reported on the findings of a Missouri University of Science and Technology sampling of pharmaceutical levels in water, which only found amounts of caffeine in Marshall's water. In raw water, the amount ranged from 34.4 parts per billion to 152 ppb, and in finished water, it ranged from 1.2 ppb to 9.3 ppb.

The board approved a request to waive sewer, water and electric impact fees for what will be a Habitat for Humanity home on South Redman Street in Marshall.

The board's next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 8:30 a.m. in the MMU office at 75 E. Morgan St.

Contact Geoff Rands at marshallreporter@socket.net