ESTON – Preston Mayor Dan Keller with City Councilmen Todd Thomas, Brent Dodge and City Engineer Tyrell Simpson gave a tour of the construction progress of their waste management facility recently.
Colton Brown the project superintendent for Commercial & Residential Construction industry (RSCI) was on hand to answer any questions about the way things were being constructed on the $75 million dollar facility looks to be about four times the size of their existing facility.
The cement structures are in progress and the different buildings will handle different stages of the purification process.
The city set up a real time video feed so residents can see the project’s progress day to day. Anyone can access the feed by finding it on the city’s website.
Eddy Hansen from Keller and Associates, an engineering firm that specializes in water systems and waste water plants guided the party though the maze of cement block buildings and cement holding tanks. He was very complimentary about the work being done by RSCI.
“I think the construction company you have working on this project are one of the best I have worked with,” Hansen said. “They were off a half an inch on one project and Colton made them tear it out and redo it. I am impressed with the quality of their work.”
The city is building the facility because the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) told the city their antiquated wastewater treatment plant was emitting too much phosphate.
“We just want to update the residents, so they are aware of the progress that is being made on our investment,” the mayor said. It’s about 40 percent complete and it looks like it is on schedule and so far no extra costs.”
“Right now, the water going into Worm Creek is cleaner than the water in the creek and I haven’t found one dead fish,” he said. “When the plant is completed, we should have the cleanest water in the world.
The new plant should double the capacity to service 10,000 people, more doubling the existing plants production.
“I’m extremely happy that on a weekly basis the project supervisor and the engineer reports to us that they’re on budget and on time,” Keller said. “And I am good there have been no significant change orders that could cost us more money. “
Keller thought the new wastewater treatment plant is one the biggest projects in Franklin County history. Originally there was talk they could upgrade the existing plant, but because Worm Creek has all the chemicals from farming crops and animals as well as everything else up stream in it they have to build a $70 million treatment plant.
“Right now, we are in the lower tear in the state for utility cost in Idaho,” he said. “When this is complete it we will be amongst the highest tear for utility cost in the state.
The more people that mov into Preston before we have to start to pay for utilities the less the residents will have to pay for their sewer,” he said. I don’t want the resident to be surprised when their monthly sewer bill doubles and goes up an extra $40.
“The sewer rate will not affect property taxes, and it is not going to be a forever burden on personal property,” he said. “When people shut off their utilities to go down south, for the winter, they will not have to pay when they are gone.”
The new plant will only serve Preston City residents. Construction on the project should be completed by December 2025.