Federal and State officials came to Gray to celebrate the completion of the city’s new wastewater treatment plant last week.
The July 12 ribbon cutting was attended by EPA Executive Director Cesar Zapata, GEFA Executive Director Hunter Hill and the GEFA Project Manager Jamelle Cherry. Matt Smith and other representatives of Carter and Sloope and representatives of Haren Construction Company were also there.
Councilmen David Tufts and Terry Favors represented Gray’s City Council in the absence of Mayor Ed Barbee who was out of town on vacation.
The group gathered in the small air-conditioned office and lab at the treatment plant for comments prior to the ribbon cutting due to the heat outside. City Superintendent Cheyenne Morgan was the first to speak. He took no credit for the project’s completion and thanked the federal and state officials for showing interest in a small-town project.
Morgan thanked Gray’s mayor and council for providing the tools needed to complete the project. He also praised Haren Construction employees and Carter and Sloope engineers for their professionalism.
“It’s been a pleasant experience. I couldn’t be happier with what we have, and I look forward to the growth that will come with it,” Morgan said.
The superintendent thanked the city’s wastewater treatment operators Jason Farmer and Matt Scroggins.
“I wasn’t always able to be here as much as I would like to be, but I didn’t need to be. They are the best operators around,” he said.
Morgan said all Gray’s public works employees had helped with the project whether they had been onsite or not. He named each of them beginning with public works manager Chris Neal, Derek Lipsey, Sam Bount, Nick Fluellen, Brent Hunter, Mike Rawlings, Larry Wimes, Arthur White and William Daniel.
“If they didn’t work here at the plant, they were working 24/7 to reduce the infiltration and inflow of the lines around the city. They have made good strides on that,” he stated.
Tufts said the new facility is a sign of the direction of the City of Gray.
“When I came on council, all that was here was a blinking light at the railroad track,” he said. “We have evolved, and I’m glad we were able to do this for the people who want to move to the City of Gray.”
The councilman thanked everyone who was involved with the project.
Smith noted the federal and state officials present. He introduced Hill who explained that GEFA was the funding source for the EPA.
“It’s exciting for us to be in partnership with the EPA. We have these resources to help communities have water infrastructure to support development and growth. We want to do more,” Hill said. “Water infrastructure is the key to it all.”
The director said the Gray treatment plant was an incredible facility supporting a community that probably does not know it is here.
“It’s vital for the health and well-being of the community,” Hill continued. “We are proud to be a part of it and look forward to a continued partnership with Carter and Sloope and Gray.”
Smith introduced Zapata as the federal partner.
“It’s a pleasure for us to be able to be here to celebrate. It’s great to see money go into helping a town grow like Gray,” Zapata said.
The speaker said many cities the size of Gray would only have a small package plant only looked at once a year and create water environment issues.
“You guys have taken this seriously and this makes the town able to continue to grow,” he said.
Zapata explained the funding comes from the clean water state revolving fund. He said federal money is funneled through GEFA and the state puts money on top of that, which gives access to the funds at a low interest rate.
“We are very proud of the work. It’s a partnership. Thank you for taking it seriously so we can continue our mission through you,” he said.
At the conclusion of the comments, the ribbon cutting was held in front of the treatment plant.
A barbecue lunch was provided following the ribbon cutting at City Hall for all attendees hosted by Carter and Sloope.
WWTP history
Gray’s wastewater woes began in 1999 with its first consent order from the Environmental Protection Division. That consent order was not lifted until 2003.
The plans for a new wastewater treatment plant have been ongoing since that time, but the cost has been the ongoing problem. The city applied for a loan through the USDA in 2010 for a 1.2 MGD wastewater treatment plant with a $12 million price tag. A change in USDA leadership before the loan was approved put the brakes on the project.
The new USDA leadership determined the city would only qualify for a 0.8 MGD plant. After years of negotiations, the city withdrew its application in 2015 and decided to work on infiltration and inflow issues in the aging sewer lines.
After three years of growth in the city and increased rains, Gray’s city council found themselves back in the familiar territory of needing to expand the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Not only did the problem not go away, but the EPD also added another consent order.
At a Feb. 11, 2020 meeting with consulting engineers, council members were told that, even if they corrected all the I&I issues with the system, their wastewater treatment plant would still be operating at 70 percent capacity.
With the ever-increasing cost of construction, engineers presented the city with another option: the construction of a smaller 0.4 MGD plant coupled with the rehab of the current 0.4 MGD plant that together would give the city the needed 0.8 MGD capacity.
That put the city back to the drawing board with financing, ultimately being approved for a $9 million GEFA loan in October of 2021. The loan amount was increased to $10.5 million at a Jan. 24, 2022, called meeting, and the bid for the project was awarded to the Haren Construction Company at the same meeting.
Groundbreaking for the wastewater treatment plant took place May 3, 2022.
