Baxter Applying for $3 Million To Upgrade Sewer Plant For Expected Growth

Baxter has applied for $3 million through USDA Rural Development to upgrade the city’s sewer plant.

Mayor John Martin said Baxter could get up to 75 percent of that money through a grant and low-interest rate loan. Martin said that regardless of the application being accepted, this is a project Baxter has to complete.

“Our sewer plant is 31 years old,” Martin said. “And with all the growth we have in Baxter down the road, the hopes are probably 400-500 new homes and town homes in Baxter. So we’re looking at capacity in our sewer plant.”

Martin said that luckily capacity issues are not there yet, but he wants to have the wheels in motion on upgrades before that problem arises. Martin said there are currently water infiltration issues at the sewer plant a CDBG project will address.

Baxter’s application to USDA is currently being reviewed at the state and federal level, however Martin said work is being done to expedite the process because of the known need for upgrades.

“The problem is there’s certain areas that we have infiltration of water into our system,” Martin said. “Which gives more water going into our sewer plant than should go into it. We’re fine right now as far as capacity, but we’re trying to be proactive right now on our sewer plant.”