Waterworks: Ephrata finalizing plans for water infrastructure upgrades

EPHRATA — Providing water and sewer services to a city laid out like a reverse saddle is challenging, but the city of Ephrata is working to improve the associated infrastructure, which is aging and needs adjustments to meet the needs of the county seat.

“You know, 90% of this stuff is due to aging treatment plants,” said Nancy Wetch, a project engineer with Gray & Osborne, Inc., a Yakima-based firm helping the city with fresh water and sewer systems upgrades. “There are some issues with capacity, but for the most part, it’s because your plant is 25 years old. Nothing is getting younger and nothing is getting newer. That’s why we’re doing this upgrade.”

On the sewer side of the equation, which Wetch spoke about, the city’s aging sewer treatment plant is in need of refurbishment and some capacity expansion as the city grows. That includes replacing equipment at the treatment plant as well as other hardware to ensure waste flows to the sewer treatment plant on the southwestern side of town, near Dodson Road Northwest. Overall though, she said the city’s waste management technology was good because it was state-of-the-art at the time the sewer plant was built. The problem is the age of the facility.

“You guys have a pretty high-tech treatment plant – it’s 25 years old – but it’s pretty high-tech,” Wetch said.

She added that the city’s operating crew for the sewer treatment plant had done everything possible to care for the facility properly, but it is simply at its expected end of life.

“I give your operators good credit,” Wetch said. “They’re good guys and they try real hard. They’re just facing a really aging treatment plant. When I say that, I’m saying they have spent the night out there, watching the water rise, hoping that it doesn’t overflow. So, they’re very dedicated. They do a great job of owning it, but you can only squeeze so much out of that.”

On the freshwater side, Gray & Osborne Civil Engineer Adam Miller said the city is working to even out water pressure around the city and ensure, among other things, that ample water is available when firefighters need it.

A new water reservoir is being built near Columbia Ridge Elementary School which will stand higher than most of the reservoirs around town to maintain good water pressure for residents on the eastern side of the city. Additionally, a new building will be installed at the site for the city’s Well 10 because the current building is outdated and in need of replacement. Additional work at Well 10 will replace the current pump with a higher-capacity model that will ensure water pumped to the new reservoir gets there. To maintain even pressure throughout, a booster station will be installed near Division Avenue that will also manage water flow.

The new reservoir will be the city’s sixth such facility and will have a 2.3 million gallon capacity, Miller said.

Funding for the projects, for which no final cost is yet established, will be done through a combined method of grants and low-interest loans. Part of that funding would come through the Build America Buy America Act, also known as BABA.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, BABA is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and requires that work funded through federal assistance provided by the law uses iron, steel, manufactured products and construction materials produced domestically.

A bid process to determine final costs and who will do the construction for the projects is expected later this year or early next year, Miller said. It’s contingent on finalizing the funding is fully processed and on hand prior to going out to bid.

“We’re essentially 90% done with our design and we have been now for maybe a couple of months, but the funding is not ready,” Miller said.

Once bidding is complete, construction would begin in 2024 and continue through sometime in 2025, Miller said. He has a draft schedule prepared that would divide the construction into phases to preserve continuity of service to residents.

Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim said the city is working to make sure the project plans for both sewer and freshwater system upgrades see the city through as far as it may given the lifespan of such infrastructure as the Gray & Osborne reps discussed during their briefing to city council.

“If we stay on the growth projection that we’re on, we’re good for the next 25 years,” Reim said.

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at editor@columbiabasinherald.com.

Roofing it

In other business, the city council approved the replacement of the roof for the city’s shop. City Council members unanimously approved a roughly $27,000 contract with M.G. Wagner Co., Inc. a roofing company based in Yakima. Public Works Field Supervisor Christian Roeder said the facility is aging and pieces of roofing have been falling off for some time, leading to safety concerns and necessitating the replacement.