Mid Coast Times

Friday, March 24, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it will help fund the City of Sweet Home's wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) infrastructure renovation with $30 Million from the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. There may be some potential eligibility for principal forgiveness depending on the annual federal budget process in coming years.  

The City of Sweet Home’s current WWTP is at the end of its useful life. It cannot treat current flows or the expected flows over the next 20 years. The proposed project will comply with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements. 

 The plant improvements will alleviate water quality degradation in Ames Creek and South Santiam River through a complete WWTP renovation and an overhaul of the treatment processes. The project includes:

• Influent pump station upgrades
• New headworks with screens
• A new primary clarifier
• Modifications to the aeration basin
• A new secondary clarifier
• New pump stations
• New tertiary filters
• A new UV disinfection system
• A new peak flow outfall
• A new primary anaerobic digester
• New drying beds
• Additional ancillary improvements

Additionally, the project includes several site improvements, including new buildings for electrical, mechanical, and administrative needs. The WWTP project is nearing design completion and is scheduled to break ground this summer.

Our current facility, built in the 1940s and last upgraded 30 years ago, treats the sewage from our homes and businesses then releases the treated water into the South Santiam River, which eventually flows into the Willamette River. As the first city along this river, upgrading our WWTP benefits our community and our neighbors downstream. 

Sweet Home Mayor Greg Mahler said, "The City of Sweet Home is honored and grateful to be selected for this funding which will benefit our community for generations to come. This funding will ensure we meet the compliance standards that protect our natural resources' future."

City Manager Pro Tem Christy Wurster said, “We are all celebrating this incredible news for Sweet Home.  We are honored and grateful to receive this funding to complete the needed infrastructure improvements to our wastewater facility.”

Public Works Director Greg Springman is ecstatic to see this project fully funded. 

The City of Sweet Home is incredibly grateful to the state and federal governments which have contributed to this project in ways that many didn't anticipate. The long-term benefit to this community is unimaginable. 

Original source can be found here.