WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The City of Wausau’s Water Treatment plant is officially moving to a new site.
As of Tuesday evening, the Wausau City Council approved 10 to 1 to move the city’s water treatment site from its current location on River Drive to a new area on Bugbee Avenue.
Director of Public Works Eric Lindman explains that after doing further research the city saw it beneficial to move the site rather than keep it at it’s current location. “One was the flood plain. It is in a flood plain which puts it at risk for contaminated drinking water. And also space is very tight. And so making those improvements on that location would take up any space that we have. So we would have absolutely no space for future development.”
Lindman says the city will be applying for a second funding source to finance the additional $11 million for the move of the plant. “The initial source, the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program has a cap of $34 million. And so because we’re going over that we have to find another funding source. But there is another infrastructure funding source that’s federally subsidized. So that’s what we’re going to go with.”
He also explains that the city won’t know the official numbers they need until further in the design process. “So once we get further into the final design. then when we have a better handle on the exact cost and the engineer estimates, then we will apply for the dollars that we need.”
Some of the final design could include adding alternative energy sources like solar panels. There are several city council members would like the design team, Becher Hoppe and Donohue to consider adding alternative energy sources to the project.
With the approval of the new site, the next step for the project is to apply for the two loans that will cover the costs of the projects. The council did unanimously approve to apply for the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. Lindman expects a final design will be presented to the utility commission sometime in June.
