Skidmore to proceed with sewer system fix
In the News
The Skidmore City Council has decided to move forward with a proposal to repair and upgrade its aging sewer system.
Acting on recommendations from its engineer, Paul Owings of Snyder & Associates, the small southwest Nodaway County municipality plans to spend more than $800,000 to improve its existing wastewater treatment plant, which is based on a “trickling filter” system, technology that has been the workhorse of municipal water treatment for more than a century.
In a trickling filter system, pre-settled wastewater, meaning sewage with the solids removed via a clarifying tank, is continuously ‘trickled’ or sprayed over a thick layer of rocks or other media.
As the water migrates through gaps in the rock filter, organic pollutants are aerobically degraded by a microorganism-rich biofilm.
In Skidmore, the main problem is that the rotating sprayer that trickles effluent into the filter doesn’t always work.
Aside from repairing the sprayer and replacing or fixing related equipment, the upgrade is to include adding bacteria-killing ultraviolet lights.
Other work will embrace cleaning existing biosolid drying beds, removing sludge from an existing lagoon and replacing various valves and pipes.
Besides restoring the plant so that it satisfies Missouri Department of Natural Resources effluent standards, the council is also planning a series of collection system upgrades that will include repairing sewer lines, broken cleanouts and degraded manholes.
The project calls for video pipe inspections and mandated removal of residential connections that channel storm water into the sanitary sewer system
Early this year, Skidmore raised wastewater treatment rates from $15.50 to $18 for the first 1,500 gallons of effluent plus an additional 50 cents for every 1,000 gallons after 2,500. At the time, the council adopted a strategy of implementing future increases incrementally in an attempt to ease the burden on ratepayers as much as possible.
The city also intends to ask voters to approve a bond issue to pay for the wastewater system improvements. Typically with such projects bond yields pay for the facility while user rates are used to service debt.
Skidmore is also pursuing grant opportunities that would cover a portion of the expense.
