PANAMA CITY — City commissioners plan to purchase new equipment for the Millville Wastewater Treatment Plant while conducting a $1.5 million relocation study of the facility.
During their Tuesday meeting, commissioners delayed approving a $2 million construction bid for the Millville AWT Facility UV (Ultraviolet) Replacement and plan to seek guidance from the Department of Environment Protection.
Officials did approve the replacement of several items for the facility's wash filters. There are five filters at the facility and replacement is recommended every seven to 10 years, according to officials.
City officials on March 8 approved the study with DEP to assess whether the 1800 E. Third St. facility should be repaired or relocated.
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Even with the study on the horizon, City Manager Mark McQueen said it would be 15 to 20 years before a new facility is completed so the current one must be maintained.
The UV project will consist of replacing the existing disinfection system and inspections afterward. Commissioners will make a decision on the project at their July 12 meeting.
City officials said it is "imperative" the UV disinfection project is approved and completed.
"If this system fails in the plant, the whole plant fails, the whole plant has to be shut down," Assistant City Manager Jared Jones said. "It just becomes a glorified non-functioning workstation at that point."
The 73-year-old treatment facility was damaged during Hurricane Michael in 2018. The facility’s other issues include operating at a capacity lower than its permitted 5 millions of gallons per day, its documented flood risk and bacteriological exceedances.
The DEP study is meant to determine what is best for the community.
"The objective for that $1.5 million was, as (city officials) just said, we would like to decommission that site, but what do we do with all of the sewage that is already being pumped to that location," McQueen said. "This study would determine No. 1, is it better to upgrade and harden the existing facility? No. 2, find alternative places to send the untreated fluid."
Commissioner Joshua Street said there are multiple issues with the treatment facility and he believes the city and DEP can work together to fix them. Street said he does not want taxpayers to fund millions of dollars of improvements that they might not see a return on.
"It's a 1950s plant and it will take time to get there. It's not gonna happen overnight, but I got to believe that DEP can see the totality of this and understand that they've got a sub-grant agreement that they've held outfor almost a year and say, 'Hey, let's work together to actually create a solution," Street said.
McQueen said the city has been penalized because the system is being overloaded during heavy rainfalls. He said the plant is not able to treat the stormwater to state standards before it is discharged into the bay.
"It's not just this. All the lift stations are part of that. That's why we went after this process," McQueen said. "Let me just remind you that this started over two years ago when we started this process of going to the Florida Legislature and asking for help on this particular plan. It's a very ... time-intensive process."