Therefore, Water/Water Pollution Control Superintendent Mike Nixon said it’s time to update the plant at 800 Lawrence St. and replace some equipment that is 30 years old.
"We really can’t afford to get into this project right now," Nixon said.
A 1988 federal clean water mandate led to another update that year and the next which cost $14 million.
That renovation was not enough, so Nixon asked city council to fund more work on the plant in 1992 when he was promoted to his current position.
City council agreed, which led to $14 million, four-year renovation that started in 1994, the last time the wastewater treatment plan has been upgraded.
"I want to have a firm come in here and evaluate the facility from the front gate, basically, to the (Hocking) river and over into the biosolids area," he said.
While the wastewater goes into the Hocking River, solid human waste is converted into sludge, or biosolids, with lime put into the sludge to kill pathogens.
So it’s a tough environment on equipment.
The plant dumps about 5 million gallons of clean water each day into the river, along with another 1.5 million or so gallons per day from the Upper Hocking wastewater treatment plant and pump station.
But Nixon said that plant will have to be expanded in the next 10 years or so.