Ottawa council takes another step at seeking second wastewater treatment plant

The City of Ottawa placed an agreement with Fehr Graham Engineering on file to see about getting a second wastewater treatment plant.

Commissioner Tom Ganiere said the current treatment plant is at about 85% capacity and Mayor Dan Aussem said the idea of a second facility is something the city has kicked around for a while.

“This proposal is for preparation of an engineering report for the EPA,” said City Engineer Tom Duttlinger.

Duttlinger said the report would go toward helping apply for a low-interest loan from the EPA.

Aussem said this station would be on the east side of town and pick up water from the north and east sides of town.

“We know we want to extend out to Route 71 and Heritage Harbor is growing that we probably should look at $12 million to put a lift station in and about $20 million to put in a small packaged treatment plant,” Aussem said. “That’s what we’re looking at and it might be more efficient to just have a separate plant on this side of the river.”