That kaching you might have heard around 7:10 p.m. Monday—KACHING!—was
the sound of the Chesterton Utility Service Board’s dropping the first bit
of real coin on the so-called long term control plan (LTCP) to reduce sewage
bypasses into the Little Calumet River.
The main component of the LTCP: the construction of a 1.2-million gallon
storage tank on the grounds of the wastewater treatment plant.
Members voted 3-0 at their regular monthly meeting to approve a contract
with DLZ to engineer the project, at a cost not to exceed $758,800.
That, is, 6.5 percent of the projected total cost of $11.6 million.
Members Larry Brandt and Andy Michel were not in attendance.
Member John Schnadenberg, looking stricken, could only say, “We have to do
it.”
In fact, the Utility does have to do it. The construction of the storage
tank—along with upgrades of the plant’s main intake lift station needed to
service the tank—is part of a plan mandated by the Indiana Department of
Environmental Management.
The idea behind the tank is to store up to 1.2 million gallons of flow
during heavy rain events, pumped to the tank by the upgraded lift station.
When the rain has lessened and the plant has caught up with the flow, a
gravity line will then bleed the excess gallonage back to the lift station,
to be pumped to the plant for treatment.
Design should be completed by July 2013. Bidding is slated for January 2015,
after funding has been developed. Construction should be completed by June
2016, with start-up and commissioning by December 2017.
A bond issue to finance the project is likely.
Positions Open
In other business, Superintendent Rob Lovell told members that he is looking
to hire possibly two persons for general labor positions.
Applications are available at the town hall, 726 Broadway; or may be
downloaded from the municipal website at www.chestertonin.org
February in
Review
In February Chesterton used 44.08 percent of its 3,668,000 gallon per day (gpd)
allotment of the wastewater treatment plant; Porter, 50.19 percent of its
851,000 gpd allotment; the Indian Boundary Conservancy District, 68.26
percent of its 81,000 gpd allotment; and the plant as a whole, 46 percent of
its capacity.
There were no bypasses last month, which saw a total of 1.89 inches of
precipitation.
In February the Utility ran a deficit of $180,838.02 and in the year to date
is running a surplus of $31,692.71.
Custom Search