Dixon wastewater plant upgrades in design phase

DIXON — Updates for Dixon’s wastewater treatment plant are in the works.

On Monday, Dixon City Council members unanimously approved a not-to-exceed $700,000 contract with Strand Associates for design engineering modifications at the plant. It is a capital improvement project for which the city budgeted.

Aging equipment will be replaced, and upcoming Environmental Protection Agency phosphorus requirements met with the upgrades, Wastewater Manager Josh McNitt said.

“All this equipment’s over 20 years old now,” he said. “It’s been running every day for 20 years, so stuff’s wearing out, and we also have to meet the phosphorus requirements.”

The plant has “held the test of time,” but wastewater is an extremely corrosive environment, said Troy Stinson of Strand Associates.

The designs are expected to take 12 to 18 months to complete, Stinson said. The Illinois EPA then will take about three months to review the plans and specs, followed by the city applying for a loan. The project itself will take 18-months to two years to construct.

“The loan application is key to get funding,” Stinson said. “You’ve qualified for some pretty significant grant funding for this project because we were able to work with IEPA to increase your loan priority score.”

Dixon is eligible for about $4.3 million, which is “a really nice chuck of money,” Stinson said. There’s about $2.3 billion worth of need in Illinois for wastewater alone, only $450 million is offered each year and the grant program is about $50 million, he said.

“If you look at the intended use plan, [what Dixon potentially could get] is one of the higher grant amounts in the entire state that you’re potentially eligible for,” Stinson said.