Madison Village purchasing new pump package for wastewater treatment plant
Aug. 5—Madison Village is buying a new piece of equipment to keep its wastewater treatment plant running properly.
Village Council has approved an $8,642 purchase order for a close-coupled pump package that's needed at the plant.
The new unit will replace a sludge pump that's about 27 years old and in very poor shape, said village Administrator Dwayne Bailey, during a recent council meeting.
"We've rebuilt it several times over the years," Bailey said. "The pump is actually obsolete. It's down to about 40 percent efficiency right now, which is costing us in other areas, because we have to put more polymer in to make it functional. It's limping at this point."
This pump pulls sludge from the plant's lagoon and feeds it into the filter press.
The pump's condition has been deteriorating at a time when the village is preparing to launch a major infrastructure project that will lead to the decommissioning of its wastewater treatment plant.
Madison Village recently received bids from three companies that want to perform the community's sanitary-sewer interconnection project. It's anticipated that Village Council will award a contract to one of those companies at a meeting in the near future.
"So the dilemma becomes, with us being within a year of closing the plant down, do we try to put a Band-Aid on an obsolete pump, which is about $4,500 to $5,000, plus labor?" Bailey said. "Or do we spend $8,642 to buy a package unit?"
Bailey conceded that the new close-coupled pump package will be of no use once the wastewater treatment plant shuts down. However, the apparatus will help prevent Madison Village from having other issues to deal with, as the date for decommissioning the wastewater plant draws closer, Bailey noted.
"My recommendation is we go with the package unit," he said. "It's peace of mind, it'll save us on polymer ... it's a better situation to be in to run the clock out on the wastewater plant."
Bailey also reminded council that the village has applied to renew its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit for operating the wastewater plant, because of delays in starting the sanitary-sewer interconnection project.
"We don't want to create any situations where we're out of compliance during that (NPDES) permitting process," he said.
Madison Village is buying the new close-coupled pump package from Buckeye Pumps of Galion. The village is still waiting to receive the apparatus.
"We are using our own laborers to install the pump, which will save approximately $2,000 in contractor labor/install," said Madison Village Fiscal Officer Kristie Crockett.
The long-awaited sanitary-sewer interconnection project will involve construction of a new trunk line to convey the village's wastewater to Lake County's sanitary sewer pump station. The station is located near the 2700 block of Hubbard Road in Madison Township.
The county will complete a companion project to either make improvements to that pump station or put in a new trunk line to direct the village's sanitary sewage to the Lake County Utilities Department Wastewater Plant on Dock Road in Madison Township.
