By Paul Alleva. The Chronicle, 5/9/2002
The Chehalis City Council will hear a report Monday from Public Works Director Jim Nichols about three ways the city might be able to treat its wastewater without building a new treatment plant.
Nichols said Chehalis might be able to use its existing plant to treat some of the city's winter wastewater, then pump the rest to Centralia's existing plant. From there Centralia would use its pipelines to pump Chehalis' wastewater and its own to Centralia's new plant, which it plans to build at the Flying T Ranch off Goodrich Road.
Centralia proposed this idea to Chehalis several weeks ago, as an alternative to the original proposal of the two cities' sharing a regional treatment plant at the Flying T. Chehalis officials declined to share the cost of a new plant off Goodrich Road with Centralia, because they said building a new plant for Chehalis would cost them $25 million less.
Nichols said Thursday it is too soon to know whether the idea of using the two cities' existing plants would be feasible, but he will present three such scenarios to the council Monday, complete with cost estimates for each.
''One piece of the puzzle that was missing was the cost to us to upgrade our existing plant,'' he said.
The city would have to upgrade and flood proof the plant before it could continue to use it, he said.
If the council approves the idea, the cities would have to present it to the Washington Department of Ecology for approval before implementing it.
---
Paul Alleva covers municipal government and public issues for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at palleva@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
This page created and maintained by Chehalis River Council
Send comments or questions to the: Chehalis River Council