Spencer Municipal Utilities is currently in the engineering and planning phase of an estimated $14 million, 2 ½ year project to update our water plant facility beginning as early as late summer or early fall.
Late last year, SMU initiated a couple studies on the water treatment plant to help with long term planning on the water treatment facility as well as how to use our aquifer source more efficiently in the future. The project is currently in the engineering and planning phase and is expected to increase treatment capacity, expand the raw water source, reliability, safety, and lime handling of the system when construction is complete.
“To continue meeting the growing needs of customers we feel it is time to update our water utility and prepare for the future needs of customers as well as economic development for the community,” says Amanda Gloyd, marketing & community relations manager.
The current plant was built in 1970 with a couple significant upgrades since, however it is not equipped to handle our peak of 2.5-2.6 mg/day which we experience several months each year.
To improve the reliability, plans are being made to increase the number of chemical feed pumps as we currently only have one set. We also currently don’t have enough high and low service pumps to meet our capacity during peaks.
To improve the safety, there currently isn’t good, safe access to all areas of the plant. There also isn’t currently a chemical spill containment which will improve the safety of employees as well as the surrounding area.
The lime bins are currently on the roof and exposed to weather year-round. An improvement in this area is planned as well as a belt press system to improve the lime sludge handling to efficiently conserve excess water and utilize the lime for agriculture applications.
The SMU Board of Trustees was updated on the study at their March meeting and reached a consensus to move forward with the project. The project will be funded with financing over 20 years and customers can expect to see rate adjustments accordingly. Both Bolton & Menk and LBG completed the studies to help with the planning and engineering.
Spencer Municipal Utilities is a leading provider of cable, Internet, telephone and i wireless cellular service in the Spencer community and has been providing water since 1886 and electric services since 1901.
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