With the current water plant being more than 50 years old, Bryan Municipal Utilities (BMU) will commission a study to decide if it can be rehabilitated or a new one is needed.
The Bryan Board of Public Affairs (BPA) Thursday unanimously approved the study to be conducted at a cost of $43,510.
“The water treatment plant was constructed and put into service in 1973 and it’s been very well maintained throughout all these years, but it is 51 years old,” said Derek Schultz, BMU director of utilities.
“The majority of the equipment and the processes are all original,” he added.
He reminded the BPA there have been “multiple failures” of critical equipment in the last several years, as well as the north and south filters at the plant have been rehabilitated and repaired twice since 2020.
“The study will provide an evaluation of the existing treatment plant to help determine the life expectancy, they will develop recommendations for upgrades and then they will compare those findings against the construction of a new water treatment plant,” Schultz said.
He estimated the study would be completed around the first of the year.
“This has been coming for awhile,” said BPA board member Dick Long. “You know how critical that water system is.”
Mayor Carrie Schlade said the city has been working on a similar, multi-year plan for the wastewater treatment plant.
“Obviously there will be a water rate adjustment study, so this won’t be the only times you guys are talking about it over the next few years,” Schlade said of the water treatment plant study.
“The most important thing is, we can’t make a mistake and not address it,” said BPA board member Bob Eyre.
In other business, the BPA:
Approved a three-year deal for new time clock software for employees to use. The current system is obsolete and the new one will be shared with employees of the city. The cost is estimated at $23,100 per year on a three-year deal, with BMU’s share estimated at $9,000 per year. Bryan Council has the issue on its agenda for Monday.
Passed a resolution to mark Oct. 6-12 as Public Power Week and recognizing BMU for its contributions to the community.
Learned Bryan was re-elected to a seat on the board of directors for AMP, Inc.
Learned of several awards BMU won at the recent AMP conference, including the power plant winning the Generation Safety Award, the electric distribution department was honored with the Transmission and Distribution Safety Award in recognition of less than 1% time loss due to reportable accidents and two employees were honored for contributing safety within the community. BMU also received two mutual aid awards for helping other communities last year.
Learned former board member Tom Sprow was given an honorary membership on the Ohio Municipal Electric Association. Sprow served on the board for eight years, as well as on several committees.
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