An engineering approval process which started before the COVID-19 pandemic has concluded with plans on a new wastewater treatment plant being submitted to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. Kenny Sullivan, the City’s engineer of Glenn Sullivan and Associates, appeared before the City Council in the December meeting to discuss the project, which Council members approved to send for DEQ comment. The process is hoped to conclude with a permit to construct the plant.
Sullivan said it had been a long process for the design of the plant and geotechnical surveys to be completed. He said by submitting the plans to DEQ, the City will obtain their first comments on the plant and then can modify them and get construction underway.
“From start of construction to finish, we’re probably still looking at two years,” Sullivan said. “We are hopeful that it will be complete and operational by about October 2024.”
Sullivan has the site plan and topographical study back from his subcontractors, but costs on dirt work and construction have gone through the roof, he said. Because of this, part of the dirt work may be performed by City crews. A legal publication in this week’s and next week’s issues of the Newcastle Pacer outlines prequalification requirements for contractors who are interested in bidding for the estimated $25 million facility. The publication outlines the plant improvements, the estimated cost and funding, as well as where to get other information.
The City’s current wastewater plant is undersized for the population and the City is under a DEQ order to change its location of discharge. Mayor Karl Nail said the City is currently discharging in a tributary of Pond Creek, but is required to discharge into the South Canadian River.
Nail said the City will only have to run a new line from the new plant, instead of the old plant.
In related water department business, the City Council was told by City Manager Kevin Self that a water rate study, as part of the City’s Capital Improvement Plant for water and wastewater infrastructure, was expected to be back next month (January). When rate studies are completed, the norm is for rates to increase in a community.
The City has both short-term and longterm projects that must be done, according to Self. He said short-term projects include those that will improve lowpressure, and an example of a long-term project is an 18inch water line that is an $11 million to $12 million project.
Self said water and wastewater projects are very expensive right now, and to pay for upcoming projects the City will use impact fees, wastewater fees, and Newcastle Public Works Authority fund balances. He said other projects might have to be financed.
Mayor Karl Nail added that equipment is also a priority and the City will need a new trackhoe to do some of the projects.
Self said there are a lot of activities occurring at the Newcastle Water Plant, which was built in 1983. He said there have been some large valves, “and things of that nature,” which will have to be replaced, and there will be maintenance and upkeep done on the facility. Self added that the City’s employees at the facility have really made a difference, and a turnaround.
The City Manager noted that Oklahoma City recently completed their own rate study and the rates they charge Newcastle for water will be going up next month.
In other City water-related activities, the Council approved a change order for 4M Trenching, Inc. of $83,943 for additional pipes and manholes on the Tri City Sewer Extension project. Self said the change order is for another 200 feet to the east and into the curve at Tri City, as well as an additional 15 feet bore under the highway.
