Minutes - 20040602 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Metadata

Thumbnails

Annotations

The Board received information on design options and projected costs for a wastewater treatment system serving the county's Northern Human Services Center. John Link spoke to the consultants and said that the issue is how to best achieve up to 6,000 gallons per day capacity with a reasonable cost. He said that the staff recommendation is that there be more than afour-day spike of 6,000 gallons per day. Bill Davis, architect with Innovative Design, made a PowerPoint presentation. The estimated current facility use is 600 people per week. The estimate for future expansion is 2,800 people per week. The measured average daily flow is 1,324 gallons per day. The estimate for future expansion is 2,062 gallons per day. The current system is working well, with a 2,400 GPD design. There are some peak flows. The first step in the proposed process would be to put flow equalization in. This would manage the peak flow to allow the existing system to handle the spikes in volume. The second system, which is the one that they recommend, is the additional tanks far controlling peak flows and also a pretreatment system, which processes the sewage and puts out purer water on the outside. The estimated cost is $162,000, which is within the current budget. He said that they just found out about alternatives 3a and 4 (produced by the Environmental Health Staff) this morning, which is in Attachment C. They feel that step 2 is the best alternative. They are not sure if steps 3a and 4 are average flows or peak flows. The other issue is that the State has currently been stricter about having nitrogen reduction from the wastewater treatment facilities. They feel that the State will not approve step 4 without nitrogen reduction. Commissioner Gordon asked for an explanation of the discrepancy between the two recommendations (staff and the consultant). Mike Nicholas said that they got involved in this to improve the environmental aspect. He said that if the County did step 4, they would not want to be part of it. They think step 4 would be a very negative thing for the environment. Ron Holdway from Environmental Health said that they met with the State Engineer and the Regional Soil Scientist on the options, and he did not get the impression that they were limited on treatment options. Tom Konsler, from Environmental Health, said that it is true that the State will be looking for nitrogen reduction. He said that he did not think that it was entirely accurate that there were no other approved technologies that will achieve the nitrogen reduction the State will be looking for. They have not seen any proposals on the living machine. Ron Holdway said that they did look and will continue to look at area wells in that community. This is one of the prime directives for the surveyor to look at. Mike Nicholas said that it was important to look at the bottom line numbers of haw large the facility will eventually be. He said that they were recommending the best system, even though it meant reducing their fee. John Link said that he has been impressed in his discussions with the consultants. He asked what the consultants would be willing to be banded on in the future based on what the County Commissioners want as a threshold of daily capacity. He said that the issue was that this system needs to be sufficient to be able to add on if necessary. He asked what the consultants would "guarantee" for the greatest amount of use per day. One of the consultants said that all of the options were the same flow. There are more expensive options. Commissioner Brown said that she perceives a disagreement between the consultants and staff. She asked that the disagreement be spelled out. Chair Jacobs asked that the disagreement be put it in writing. The staff and the consultants will come together and put something in writing for the Board. e. Appointments