Members of the Plains Town Council voted unanimously to approve the Wastewater Change Order for Sludge Removal motion, giving Prospect Construction the green light to handle that part of the overall project.

Sludge removal was the only new business for last Monday night’s monthly meeting at City Hall, which took less than an hour. Prospect Construction, a company based in Puyallup, Wash., and Missoula, was the low bidder to construct the new lagoon, but the sludge issue was not included because the regulatory details covering the dismantling of the present lagoon had not been worked out. The majority of the details regarding the sludge removal were Department of Environmental Quality regulations.

“It’s a pretty specialized operation. There are not very many sludge removal companies in the area or in the state,” said Mayor Dan Rowan. “Sludge removal and land application is required in order to complete decommissioning of the existing lagoon treatment facility,” said Shari Johnson, the town’s contract engineer, in the motion summary passed last week. The removal project could come at a cost of $530,000, as a worse case scenario, according to the motion. In addition, the town wants to get the sludge gone before any spring threat could flood the present lagoon.

Plans are for most of the sludge to be trucked away to be used as crop fertilizer at the property of a local farmer just outside Plains. The sludge would be transferred there by truck, but it has to be screened to catch any non-biodegradable materials, which will have to be disposed of in another fashion. Council member Joel Banham voiced his concern over the additional cost of the lagoon project, but Johnson said that had they not found a local farmer to take the sludge, it would have had to be hauled off elsewhere, which would have been more costly. Rowan also noted that the cost would have been less had the town been able to get the property two years ago, but negotiations for the land held up the purchase.

Rowan and Chris Allen, the council president, participated in a near 13-hour mediation session on Sept. 14, which resulted in the town paying an additional $10,000 to Nick and Erika Lawyer, the previous owners of the site of the new lagoon, which compensated the Lawyers over a three-acre portion of the property at the new lagoon site. The mediation also addressed a well that the town has promised to move, but hasn’t yet.

Rowan said the sludge removal might begin this month, even though the new lagoon is not yet finished due to a part on backorder. Plans are for cells one and three of the present lagoon to be drained and cleaned. The other two cells will remain in use until the new lagoon is operational. Crews recently installed a new valve in the force main along Helterline Drive, which will enable workers to switch sewage going from the old site to the new lagoon once it’s ready.

“We will be doing the sludge removal one cell at a time so that treatment can continue while the new plant is coming online. The goal is to have the sludge removed prior to spring while the contractor is on site,” said Johnson. Sewer treatment plant sludge is supposed to be removed about every 20 years, but the mayor doesn’t think it’s ever been done at the present lagoon. He said that once the sludge is removed the remainder of the lagoon will be dismantled, most of which will be done by the town’s public works staff, in an effort to save money. Some of the material will be recycled and some will be used at the new lagoon.

A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned at the new lagoon site on October 27.