Increase in sewer bill needed to fix South Wastewater Treatment Plant

SIKESTON — Sikeston residents could soon see an increase in their sewer bill.

Rick Landers, general manger of Sikeston BMU, addressed Sikeston City Council Monday with a proposed rate that would increase the average residential customer’s monthly sewer bill by $14.23 over a period of three years.

Year one would increase $7.84 with an increase of $3.03 in year two and $3.36 in year three.

A hole in a pipe is seen at BMU’s South Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant is in need of improvement and BMU is proposing an increase in Sikeston residents’ sewer bills. (Sikeston BMU photo)

A hole in a pipe is seen at BMU’s South Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant is in need of improvement and BMU is proposing an increase in Sikeston residents’ sewer bills. (Sikeston BMU photo)

The increase is needed because of BMU’s South Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is actually three plants in one. The first plant was built in 1954 and is mothballed. The second plant was built in 1968 and is worn out with many issues and is at the end of its life. The third plant, built in 1988, is in need of a major overhaul.

“Basically, (the South Wastewater Treatment Plant) is no longer performing the way it should be,” said Landers. “The equipment is aged and needs to be replaced or maintained. It’s hard to replace or maintain it because it is only rated at 2-2.5 million gallons per day and our average loading on it is 3 million gallons a day. So you can’t take it out of service to work on it.”

Landers said the plant is being used differently than it was designed. Instead of just handling wastewater, it is also handling trash, something it was never designed to do.

“(The trash) gets in the pipes, it gets in the pump and plugs everything up,” Landers said. “It plugs up the air delivery system. Our big problem now is it is having to deal with trash and wastewater and it’s old and we’re trying to figure out how to get it back to life.”

The second plant, built in 1968, was lost in May. Landers said they have been unable to resuscitate it yet.

“Anybody that lives over there and has been smelling the sewer plant, that’s why you’ve been smelling the sewer plant,” Landers said. “We’re working on it.”

The problems with the plant have been known for years and BMU has been working at finding the large amount of funds to fix the issues. The process began in 2018 when a consultant recommended five consecutive 5% rate increases. Due to prices changing, the consultant then recommended to do the rate increase for three years and reevaluate, which BMU did in 2021.

What came was a study by Waters Engineering with five phases needed for the South Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Phase 1: Cleaning, repair and replacement items needed to meet existing demands that needs to be done immediately. ($3,050,000)

Phase 2: Find and correct stormwater inflow sources found in collection system that has already began and will continue over the next 10 years. ($200,000 per year)

Phase 3: Replace three lift stations and install two new force mains over the next five years ($3,000,000)

Phase 4: Construct new headworks and replace plant pumping station as soon as possible ($9,400,000)

Phase 5: New wastewater treatment plant after 2026 permit renewal process, no sooner than 2030 ($48,000,000)

Landers said they would start doing Phases 1 and 4 immediately and then start working on 2 and 3.

“Our goal was to cover phase 1 and 4 which was most immediate,” Landers said. “Since phase 2 and 3 is something that’s going to happen 5 to 10 years out, there’s that uncertainty. At the current, we think the (increase) is enough to cover it, but we can’t say for sure it’s enough to cover it. But that’s the intent.”

Landers said they have applied for grant money to pay for the improvements but no money has been secured as of yet.

“The person I talked to at the state said there is $250 million dollars worth of grant money out there and there is $1.5 billion of requests for it. I can’t say anything about it other than I have our name in the hat and we’re seeing what we can get,” Landers said.

The rate increase, if approved by Council at their July 25 meeting, would put Sikeston’s rate at $34.08 per 5,000 gallon user in 2025. That would be just higher than Poplar Bluff ($29.50), Cape Girardeau ($31.13) and Jackson ($31.41). However, those are 2022 rates and could go up higher than Sikeston by 2025.

“As far as the rates go, the world is divided into two categories,” Landers said. “People that have had to do something and spend some money and people who haven’t yet had to do anything. A lot of people you see haven’t had to do anything.”