The Town of Washington will receive the second round of bids for construction of its new wastewater treatment plant on Sept. 4. The first set of bids came in over budget by $1 million.

There was a low bid within budget for the collection system which are the pipes which carry the water from the houses to the treatment plant. That bid by Franklin Mechanical Contractors out of Kilmarnock, Va., has not been awarded yet.

The company was incorporated in 1984 and specializes in smaller municipal water and wastewater collection and distribution systems according to Blake Franklin, president. The company performs around four to five similar contracts each year.

Mayor Eugene Leggett said he is "confident" that this set of bids for the treatment plant will meet the Town's requirements, and that a contractor will be selected in time to break ground on the new plant before the end of the year.

This would be the culmination of over 18 years of attempts to finally address the problem of septic systems and drainfields failing within the town and potentially contaminating ground water and streams.

After the initial set of bids came in well over budget, changes were made to the treatment plant requirements to facilitate lower bids, according to Leggett. The main change, he said, was changing from precast concrete tanks to cast-in-place concrete tanks. Another significant change was requiring competitive bids for equipment.

Phase I of the system will encompass the town proper and will include 103 hook ups to the system. Sixty one of those are residential and 42 are commercial. Rates for the new utility (yet to be organized) have not been set as yet, however, each residential customer will be assessed at one Environmental Discharge Unit whereas commercial establishments will be assessed by their levels of discharge. Phase II will add the rural residential properties on the edge of town.

The entire system – including phases I & II – will have a capacity of 60,000 gallons of flow per day. It is estimated that the town as it is today will produce about 35,000 gallons of flow on average with peaks of around 45,000 gallons. This would leave 15,000 gallons of flow per day excess capacity for any town growth.

Some of the concerns about the wastewater system have been the cost, but the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is providing the town with a zero percent interest loan with a 20 year term. In essence, according to Leggett, that is the same as providing the town with a grant, as an interest bearing loan over the same period would double the cost to the town.

The town plans to finance the capital improvement by requiring residents and businesses to pay a portion of the cost of connecting to the system. The mayor also said that the town plans to sell the Avon Hall property once the plant is built and screened by landscaping to pay down the loan.

Some residents, however, have expressed concern at being able to afford the hook up fee – projected to be at least $7,500 per household. But even repairing an existing septic system can cost $6,000-$7,000 according to Medge Carter, environmental health specialist with the Virginia Health Department, and can go even higher if the repair is anything other than a conventional gravity fed system.

Due to the no-interest loan, hook-up costs are half of what they may have been, according to the mayor. In addition, the new plant will employ a state of the art ultraviolet treatment process and as a result eliminate the need for chemical disinfection. Leggett said that this would reduce the operating cost of the plant by $25,000 per year. The initial operating budget for the new utility was estimated to be $100,000 per year, said the mayor.

Several studies and environmental assessments of the Rush River and area streams have been performed over the past several years, all of which point to high levels of contaminants present including phosphorous, nitrogen and human coliform within the town limits.

The high level of phosphates – well above what would be expected from a town this size – necessitated an agreement with Spotsylvania County which has agreed to sell the town contaminate credits, about $732 a year. This agreement – the first of its kind in the Commonwealth – was necessary in order to get approval from DEQ to proceed with construction of the collection system and treatment plant.

There are several sources of phosphate contaminates, primarily in agricultural fertilizers, but they are also present in laundry detergents and dish soaps. Apparently, the high number of hospitality establishments is responsible for the high phosphate count as there is very little agricultural land within the town limits.

Other concerns about the system are how it may disrupt the town and its primary source of income, tourism. Franklin Mechanical Contractors – the low bidder for the collection system and the presumptive contract winner – would take about six to eight months to complete the collection system, however starting during the winter and weather may impact progress. Work would be done in phases and taken in sections to minimize disruption as much as possible.

Septic fields deteriorate over time – the typical span is about 20-30 years – and although they can be repaired, eventually the soil underneath becomes saturated and the only alternative is a new field and there is not always room for one.