Monterey Wastewater Treatment Plant Work Making Progress

Monterey’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is about 60 percent complete.

The Board of Aldermen approved a change order of about $38,800 to increase chemical holding facilities. Engineer Nathaniel Green said increased costs for chemicals and the ability to get them led to the change.

“One of the things that Dwayne and I really talked about was putting in an additional bulk chemical tank that way we can make sure tha t in the future, if we have issues getting the chemical,” Green said. “Which we don’t right now, but you can easily see that in the future coming down the line, that we would have the storage for it in the new wastewater treatment plant.”

Green said the funds would cover the cost of a new double-walled 2,500-gallon storage tank. He said it will also cover making one of the existing plans more flexible in order to use other chemicals in it as well.

Green said while it sounds like an expensive change, it is basically double the number of materials they had originally planned. He said it also comes with a stand for the storage tank to set the tanks on.

Green said the $38,800 would come from the project’s contingency funds. He said the costs also include labor and bonding for the company.

“At the end of the day, we don’t want to spend any more than we have to,” Green said. “But if there’s grant money that’s there that’s going to go away if we don’t sue it and it has to be used in the scope of a sewer plant, then I’m just trying to make things better than what we have.”

Green said the plant’s start-up date is set for May of next year. He said the end of the contract is August 9th, 2023.