Treatment turmoil

Budget cuts not expected to immediately affect Louisiana

By Martin Schwartz

Environmentalists had a shocking look at the future of wastewater treatment when the Bush Administration proposed sizeable cuts to the U. S. Clean Water State Revolving Fund this year. The federal loan fund finances sewage system repairs and construction.

The Bush Administration proposed reducing the budget from $1.3 billion in 2004 to $850 million for the current fiscal year. Congress put back about $260 million, leaving the fund at about $1 billion for the first year of Bush's second term.

Some city representatives in Louisiana don't feel the cuts will have any immediate effects on construction.

"Shreveport has a pretty good bond rating," said Mike Hogan, assistant city engineer for the City of Shreveport. "While we get a very good interest rate from the state revolving fund, it isn't significantly different from what the city can get on general obligation bonds, so I don't think it's going to have a huge impact on us."

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Hogan said Shreveport currently has seven different projects in the works, with aging facilities being the primary reason for current construction.

"There are also new regulations continually coming into place and we wanted to make sure that we could meet the discharge regulations," he said. "We've made quite a few changes that we think are going to result in operational savings." The city council has approved $25 million for bond issuance to be funded through the state revolving fund.

"The state has indicated that they should have those funds available," Hogan added.

While Shreveport's planned wastewater renovation is looking to the future, New Iberia faces a different problem altogether. City Treasurer Amie Varnado said New Iberia is involved in litigation over its wastewater treatment facility.

"There's a lawsuit pending - the Department of Justice is involved - because of problems with environmental issues," she said. "They're in the process of coming up with a consent decree and the new wastewater plant is part of that decree."

Department of Environmental Quality revolving loan funds and general obligation bonds are funding the project.

Following are the largest wastewater projects currently under construction in the state.

New Iberia. The sugar cane is gone and work is progressing on schedule for New Iberia's $20 million wastewater plant designed to handle the city's current needs - and then some. Cajun Constructors of Baton Rouge is the general contractor for the facility.

Though New Iberia only requires the plant to process about 4 million gallons a day (mgd), the 14-acre wastewater facility will be able to handle 6 mgd when it comes on line later this year and has the flexibility to increase to 8 mgd in the future.

Most of the structures, including two sequential batch reactors, are being cast in place and Josh O'Neil, assistant project manager, said that work is nearing completion.

"We're just about to get done with the structural concrete and start working on the mechanical and above ground piping," he said. "By the end of (February), we ought to be poured out, except for the 8-inch concrete road that goes around the plant."

The only precast structure is a 1-million-gallon sludge tank measuring 80 ft. in diameter, supplied by The Crom Corp. of Gainesville, Fla.

O'Neil said the project is currently on schedule for an August completion.

Lake Charles. McInnis Brothers of Minden is the general contractor for the all-new wastewater facility project on Lake Charles' Tank Farm Road. The $21 million project includes $4 million of owner-furnished equipment that McInnis will install.

The project got underway in March 2004 and is scheduled for an October completion, said superintendent Richard Rachal.

"I'd say we're about 70 percent done with it at this point," he said. The project required about 15,000 cu. yds. of concrete and all the structures were cast in place, he said.

Once online, the facility will be able to treat 4.5 mgd of wastewater. Meyers & Associates of Sulphur designed the facility so it can be expanded in the future to double and even triple capacity.

"It's a 20-acre site, but the site we're building on is only about 10 acres," Rachal said. The additional acreage was acquired for phases 2 and 3 of the project.

The new facility will utilize chemical and ultraviolet purification processes, Rachel said.

Shreveport. The $24.6 million state-of-the-art renovation of Shreveport's North Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant includes a new pump house that may actually exceed the capacity of the plant itself.

"As far as the pump station goes, there are six internalist screw pumps, each one having the capacity of 4600 gallons per minute," said Billy Lott, project manager for Max Foote Construction Co. of Bossier City. "That's 39.7 mgd. I don't know that the plant is actually capable of that."

To complete renovation of the existing facility, the contractors had to build two new clarifiers, a returning activated sludge (RAS) pump station, a new splitter box, new UV structure with UV treatment equipment, and a new effluent pump station, Lott said.

In addition, rehab on existing equipment included new screw pumps in the influent pump station' new screening and grip removal equipment in the headworks, modifying the existing oxidation ditch and converting the existing effluent pump station to a storm water station.

The refit also includes all new electrical and instrumentation systems to make the facility fully automated.

Lott said all the new construction and refurbishing required about 6,500 yds. of 4,000 psi concrete supplied by Builders Supply of Shreveport.

The project started in September 2003 and even after fighting wet-weather in 2004, Lott said he expects to wrap up by early April.

Bernie Isom, project manager for Max Foote Construction of Bossier City, said his crew would soon start another renovation project, one of seven wastewater projects currently planned for the City of Shreveport.

"We are waiting on the city to issue us a contract," he said. "We're ready to move on site as quick as we can get a notice to proceed."

Isom said the $14.6 million project is considered an expansion of existing facilities to add high rate clarifiers at two sites: the North Regional Wastewater Treatment plant and the Lucas Wastewater Treatment Plant. During high flows, high rate clarifiers divert part of the flow to increase plant capacity.

"It's not economical to run the process as a standard process," he added. "This is only justified at high flow rates."

While still waiting for potential changes and modification on the original design, Isom said the main project will involve the construction of 80-ft. by 60-ft. clarifiers at each site and is expected to utilize approximately 3,600 yds. of concrete for both locations.

TXI of Bossier City will supply the concrete.

Isom said he expects site preparation to involve approximately 20,000 yds. of structural excavation at both sites as well as dewatering. Once underway, the project should take about 13 months to complete, he said.

Kenner. Of Kenner's three original wastewater treatment plants, only plants 2 and 3 are currently in service. After Max Foote Construction of Mandeville finishes its $6 million consolidation project, only plant 3 will remain in service as a wastewater treatment plant.

"It's Kenner's overall plan to consolidate all their wastewater treatment plants into one," said Tim Steward, project manager. "They're actually decommissioning wastewater treatment plant 2, which is a couple of miles from the one we're working on (plant 3). Plant 2 will be turned into a pumping facility."

The project involves constructing three new structures: one 70-ft. by 136-ft. aeration basin and two 85-ft.-diameter clarifiers.

"All these structures are on new piling, so the first couple of months we were pretty much driving pilings," Steward said.

Once tested and approved, subcontractors drove 300 12-in.-sq. and 14-in.-sq. concrete pilings to a depth of 80 ft. An additional 100 12-in. timber pilings from 20 to 50 ft. were also used.

Close quarters around existing structures required constructing cofferdams on the clarifiers, Steward said.

"We don't have room, with existing utilities and structures close to the new structure, to just go in and dig a big hole," he added. "We used steel sheet piling and drove them in the ground so we could dig inside the sheeting."

The project began in September and is on target for a September 2006 completion.