The city of Fulton and Missouri's Department of Natural Resources are working to finalize the paperwork to get the sewer upgrade project moving forward.
Chris Wieberg, the section chief of operating permits, said the permit process typically only takes about 180 days to renew. Fulton's permit, however, is approaching two years.
The reason the paperwork is taking longer than usual is due to interpretations of the literature surrounding the new permits and the federally-mandated upgrades. The upgrades are a result of algae blooms that began growing on the water of Stinson Creek in 2010.
Low oxygen levels and other pollutants that had made it into the water caused the algae blooms to grow, Wieberg said. These problems landed the creek on the state's impaired water list, which don't meet the water quality standards set forth by the Clean Water Act, according to the DNR's site.
The impairments forced the DNR and the Environmental Protection Agency to write Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) which place conditions on the permit once it's up for renewal. The conditions focus on the maximum amount of pollutants a body of water can contain while still meeting standards of water quality.
The TMDL for Stinson Creek tightened standards on the new permit for Fulton. The city is now working with the DNR to clarify the permit requirements and to finish paperwork surrounding the funding of the project.
The city obtained a revolving loan fund with lower interest rates to keep customer rates low, Fulton Director of Administration Bill Johnson said. The city was also able to secure a variance which will spread out the cost of the project over 20 years, Johnson said. Before the EPA allowed the variance, the city would been required to pay about $16 million to complete the project, which would have drastically raised sewer rates for community members, Johnson said. As of now, he said, residential sewer rates will not be significantly impacted during the project.
The city was given an EPA approved variance which gives the city 22 years to schedule three upgrades, Wieberg said. According to the permit, Fulton must complete the first tier of the upgrade by December of 2016 - and all three upgrades need to be completed by 2035.
In the first upgrade tier, the water treatment plan requires the plant to comply with the effluent limitations of ammonia and other pollutants. However, the schedule is prone to change as paperwork with the DNR is finalized. During the second upgrade, the plant will be required to limit the amount of suspended solids in the water, nutrient removal for total nitrogen and total phosphorous, among other requirements. By the third upgrade, the plant is expected to have met the requirements of the first two tiers and optimize the plant's operations, according to the permit, which can be found with this story at fultonsun.com.
Johnson said the first things to be addressed at the plant include adding ultra violet lighting to the water, which will disinfect the water before it returns to the stream. Currently, a large "overflow basin" receives diverted water after heavy rainfall, which under the old permit, was allowed to sit for a few days before it was treated and returned to the creek, Johnson said. However, restrictions from the new permit will require the excess water to be brought directly to the plant and treated.
With the variance, it's possible that following the first upgrade, which includes making $13 million in improvements, the water treatment plant could be in compliance with the new permit, Johnson said. If that happens, the next two upgrades might not be necessary - the city would have eight years to determine if the plant needed the second round of upgrades, he added.
If the plant isn't in compliance by 2025 and 2026, it will be required to make the second round of improvements. But at that time, some of the loan debt is expected to have been repaid, Johnson said.
However, since water treatment plant permits expire after five years, it's also possible additional restrictions will require more work to be done to Fulton's plant.
"The variance we received is actually providing us a layer of insurance that any new modifications to the regulations will have minimal impact on us," Johnson said.
HDR, Inc. is the engineering company which is consulting with the city on the plant's new design. Once the paperwork is finalized, the city will begin the bidding process, Johnson said. A deadline for the paperwork remains unclear, but once it is completed and a bid is placed, construction can take up to two years to complete, Johnson said.