The wastewater treatment plant in Pell City, Ala., has been declared to be in a state of emergency by the City Council. The announcement will allow the city to secure the lease of equipment to fix the problem of an excess of solid waste in drying beds.
According to Daily Home, Freddy Hazelwood, Pell City’s water quality superintendent, told the council that two of the city’s three clarifiers are at 6-to-7-feet deep with a 10-foot capacity, while the newest clarifier currently holds about 10 feet of solid waste of its 14-foot capacity.
City attorney Robert Minor believes the situation qualifies as an emergency, since capacity could be filled more quickly than capacity could be expanded. The declaration is what allowed the council to come up with a solution without entering a standard bid process.
It has been estimated that the process would take about eight weeks to complete.
The council approved a cost of $25,000 for the equipment. Removal charges will run more, but councilmen urged Hazelwood to consider using city trucks rather than rented containers to haul the waste to the landfill. Cost for the containers is from $480 to $520 per container per day.
Source: Daily Home
