The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
City must consider future of sewer plant
City leaders need to consider options for the future of Lorain’s primary sanitary sewer plant, workers there say.
Lorain City Council members on Oct. 17 left their City Hall chamber to venture over the Charles Berry Bascule Bridge for a moonlight tour of the Black River Wastewater Treatment Plant, 100 Alabama Ave.
The meeting was part of continuing research by the Streets & Utilities Committee, which could recommend future water and sewer rate hikes for Lorain customers. The same committee met Sept. 26 for a presentation on capital needs and the financial status of Lorain’s water and sewage
treatment systems.
There was no formal recommendation Oct. 17; the tour was informational, said committee Chairman Joe Faga, who represents Ward 7.
The meeting began with an introduction by Utilities Director Mary Ivan-Garza. The tour guides were Assistant Director of Utilities Paul Wilson; Tony Dore, acting assistant superintendent and operations supervisor of the Wastewater Treatment Plant; Robert “Bobby” Culp, maintenance supervisor for the Wastewater Treatment Plant; and Joe Carbonaro, environmental manager for the department.
“Everybody’s got a decent idea of what we do,” said Dore, a worker there since 1972. “It’s just, what kind of shape we’re in. It’s amazing that we do what we do with what we’ve got.”
Dore and Culp passed out photographs of worn equipment before the city officials went to see the items for themselves.
Most of the major equipment at the plant has a life expectancy of about 25 years, but the Black River plant has some original gear still in use from when it was built in 1954 and opened the following year, Dore said.
“So, it doesn’t owe us anything,” he said.
One of the big issues will be what direction the city wants to take with the plant, Dore said. Lorain has at least two major options to consider, he said.
One is regionalization, joining with other communities for sewage treatment, Dore said.
However, he cautioned against Lorain, the largest city in Lorain County, giving control of its utilities to someone else.
If that happened and a new business wanted to bring jobs to Lorain, the city would have to ask a regional board to grant a break on utilities as an incentive, Dore said.
“What if they say no? What are we going to do?” Dore said. “That’s just an old timer talking.”
“That’s fine; we’re here to listen,” said City Council President Joel Arredondo.
Another option is to build a new facility on the west side of Lorain, Dore said.
At least part of the city’s sanitary sewer flow already goes to the west side, he said. The challenge would be for the city to plan how to get sewage flow to the west from the east side, central Lorain and South Lorain, but it could be done, he said.
The Black River Waste Water Treatment Plant can handle 15 million gallons of wastewater a day. It averages about 13 million gallons per day, while the west side Philip Q. Maiorana Waste Water Treatment Plant, known as PQM, cleans averages about 3 million gallons per day.
A third option is to spend millions of dollars on upgrades to the Black River plant, which has lagged behind the PQM plant for investment in recent years.
Some of the major equipment at Black River dates from 1972, Dore said. He noted those items coincide with the federal rules that became the Clean Water Act of 1972.
In a written overview given to Council members, the utilities staff suggested a number of repairs and upgrades. The fix-it list had estimated costs ranging from $25,000 for pumps to $5 million for the pipeline that carries sanitary sewage under the Black River.
The tour included Council members Mary Springowski, Pamela Carter, JoAnne Moon, Brian Gates, Dennis Flores, Greg Argenti, Angel Arroyo Jr., Joshua Thornsberry, Mitch Fallis and Joe Koziura. Also present were Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer and Treasurer Terri Soto; Clerk of Council Nancy Greer; Safety-Service Director Dan Given; and city residents Joyce Early and Matt Harkins, who both are frequent attendees at Council meetings.
“Everybody’s got a decent idea of what we do. It’s just, what kind of shape we’re in. It’s amazing that we do what we do with what we’ve got.”
—Tony Dore, acting assistant superintendent and operations supervisor of the Wastewater Treatment Plant