The city of Emporia cut the ribbon to unveil the multimillion-dollar renovation to the Wastewater Water Treatment plant at a special ceremony today.
The ribbon cutting ceremony marks the end of Emporia’s largest construction project the city has ever undertaken. The plans for renovating the Wastewater Plant began in 2015, and cost the city just shy of $30 million. The city used the state’s revolving loan fund to finance the full amount with low-interest loans according to City Manager Mark McAnarney. Assistant City Manager Lane Massey speaks on why this is money well spent.
The city worked with Burns & McDonnell out of Kansas City to design and construct a waste management system that handles to main functions. It follows future federal mandates of reducing biological nutrients, and it increases efficiency for expending safer water to the city and those downstream. Burns & McDonnell implemented the state’s first Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge, or IFAS, a system to ensure efficiency and energy-saving waste technology.
Senior Project Manager at Burns & McDonnell Kerrie Greenfelder talks more about how they reused existing infrastructure and converted it using the trailblazing IFAS technology.
With state and federal mandates being handed down earlier this decade, the city was motivated to be ahead of the curve and launch this 4-year renovation process. Emporia Treatment Plant Manager Scott Gumfory details why the new construction is needed.
For more information, call the City Manager’s office at 343-4250.
Photos by Gary Woods II/KVOE News
{gallery}WASTEWATER PLANT RIBBON CEREMONY{/gallery}
