Auburn City Council approves $5.8 million Waste Water Treatment Plant project

The city of Auburn's Waste Water Treatment Plant is on its way to getting an upgrade. The Auburn City Council recently approved a $5.8 million bid to construct a new sludge dewatering facility and replace aging equipment. Auburn's Waste Water Treatment Plant treats all wastewater generated within city limits, providing secondary, tertiary and then ultraviolet light disinfection treatment before it discharges the treated water into Auburn Ravine Creek. Water solids are removed through a mechanical dewatering system before being hauled for disposal to a landfill in Lincoln. The city uses a 30-year-old belt filter press to dewater all sludge produced at the plant. The aging equipment can take 8-12 hours to dewater a day's worth of sludge, often creating overtime. The 3,555-square-foot dewatering facility would include a truck loading dock and solar-ready carport with electric vehicle charging stations. The upgrade would include a screw press, which would speed up the dewatering treatment of sludge. "Because the project has been anticipated, we are funding this out of city reserves set aside for this reason," said Dan Rich, principal engineer from NexGen Utility Management and consultant for the city. "We are not accruing any new debt." In addition to upgrading the technology and efficiency of the dewatering facility, the new building will accommodate larger trucks to help minimize disposal/recycling costs and allow the plant to start to recover energy from the sludge if/when that regulation is required. The city received four bids and picked the lowest, from R.E. Smith Contractors, for $5.8 million. The city council vote for the project passed 4-1, with Councilman Daniel Berlant voting against the bid. "My vote was not a reflection of the importance of the project or the contractor but rather concerns about the bidding process," Berlant said. "The concerns were obviously enough for me to vote no, but as a council, I think we decided it was not enough to reject the bids." The project is slated to begin construction next month and complete construction by September 2022.