Superintendent Tim Woodward is pictured at the Monday, Feb. 17 meeting of the Turkey Creek Sewer District Board. The board accepted a bid from Mason Engineering on new rotor installation at the plant to increase capacity. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.

By Lilli Dwyer
InkFreeNews

CROMWELL — The Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District Board reviewed bidding on an aeration project to increase plant capacity at the Monday, Feb. 17 meeting.

John Magsam of Jones and Henry Engineers presented the results. There was one bid from Fort Wayne’s Mason Engineering for $398,121, which the board accepted on the recommendation of Jones and Henry.

Mason Engineering will be installing new rotors at the plant to mix and aerate more sewage. There will be three rotors in each of the plant’s two oxidation ditches, instead of the current two rotors.

“It saves us from putting in a new oxidation ditch, which would be $9 million,” said Vice President Bob Dumford.

Superintendent Tim Woodward said work on the project should begin in April and is predicted to take about six months.

Once new rotors are in, the plant’s design capacity will increase by 62% from 0.5 million gallons per day to 0.6 million per day.

In Woodward’s monthly report, he informed the board he has taken water samples and will be sending them to a lab this month for PFAS testing as required by IDEM. There have so far been no PFAS found in Turkey Creek Sewer District’s water.

Woodward and board attorney, Andy Boxberger, are looking at the possibility of increasing the charge for a water tap. The charge has been $1,750 for the past 20 years and, he said, “We’ve lost money on the last three water taps.” A new charge has not been determined yet, but should be in the $2,500 to $5,000 range.

Woodward also reported on two programs he has entered to save the district money. First, through NIPSCO, he has entered the nTherm program, which will give the district a 20% rebate on natural gas for its lift stations for the next two years.

Second, he has been a part of a pump rebuild program with Kester Electric of Warsaw. The district has 77 pumps, 43 of which have been sent to Kester for rebuilding instead of being replaced over the years. Woodward said this has cost about $56,000, instead of the $800,000 it would cost to buy new pumps.

Lastly, Boxberger said the board will need to set up repayment for bonds on the new rotor project; however, he suggested tabling the matter until the full cost of the project is known, and the board agreed.

In other business, the board approved a resolution to allow remote participation in meetings.

The next regular Turkey Creek Sewer District board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, March 17.