Allentown officials will submit a general request for financing through the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust after mulling over the future of Allentown’s waste water treatment plant.
Roberts Engineering Group President Carmela Roberts outlined three possible outcomes for the borough’s “deteriorating and dated” sewage plant on Fowlers Bridge Road.
“Some of [Allentown’s] equipment is not operational and that needs to be upgraded or replaced in one degree or another,” Roberts said during a Sept. 29 Borough Council meeting.
In recent years, municipal officials have considered the fate of the plant in the wake of rising operational costs. According to the 2015 municipal budget, Allentown is spending more than $860,000 to operate its waste water treatment plant.
In an effort to lower those costs, Roberts said, Allentown can modernize the facility or convert it into a pump station to send sewage to a waste water facility in Hamilton or Robbinsville.
Roberts said representatives of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection did not indicate any objection to either course of action. She said her firm contacted Monmouth County and Mercer County because those entities would have to modify their waste water managements plan for Allentown, Robbinsville or Hamilton if any changes were made to the borough’s waste water facility.
Financing for either option would be sought through the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust (NJEIT).
If Allentown is approved for the trust, Roberts said, the borough would pay about 1 percent interest on 25 percent of the funding, with the remainder carrying 0 percent interest.
If Allentown upgrades the plant, Roberts said her firm estimates the operational costs would decrease to $585,000 a year.
While many of the operating costs with this option would remain relatively flat, the annual sludge removal cost would decrease from $225,000 to $75,000 because of the installation of more modern and efficient equipment, according to municipal officials.
Roberts said the cost to upgrade or replace existing equipment at the plant would be about $2.8 million.
If financing was secured through the NJEIT for a 20-year term, the estimated annual cost to Allentown would be $740,200, which is a reduction of $120,800 from the plant’s current annual operating costs. With a 30-year financing term, the annual cost would be $678,000 – a reduction of about $183,000 in total operating costs.
If officials decide to convert the plant to a pump station and send the sewage to a waste water treatment facility, the cost will depend on whether they opt to connect to a pump station in Robbinsville or in Hamilton.
If officials opt to connect to the Yardville Groveville pump station near Route 130, the annual operating costs would decrease to $532,300, according to officials. That amount includes an estimated fee of $155,700 to be paid to Hamilton for the increased sewage flow into the facility.
In order to facilitate the conversion and connection to Hamilton’s station, Roberts said, Allentown would have to construct a 5-mile-long pipe which would pass under the New Jersey Turnpike and cross four streams. Costs for such a project would total $6.2 million, including an estimated construction cost of $5.4 million.
If financing was secured through the NJEIT for a 20-year term, Roberts estimated the annual cost to Allentown would be $879,400, which would be an increase of more than $18,000 from current operating costs. With a 30-year term, the annual cost would be $741,500 –a reduction of about $119,500 from current operating costs.
If officials decide to convert Allentown’s plant and connect to the pump station at the Matrix Business Park in Robbinsville, operating costs will be reduced to an estimated $532,300. Roberts said that amount could increase depending on an expected fee from Robbinsville to pump sewage from Allentown down the line to Hamilton.
The project would pump sewage across Interstate 195 to the Robbinsville pump station on West Manor Way.
Costs incurred by the borough to convert its plant and construct the necessary pipelines to transport its waste water to the Robbinsville pump station would be about $4.6 million, including an estimated construction cost of $3.9 million.
If financing was secured through the NJEIT for a 20 year term, Roberts estimated that the annual cost would be $748,300, which would be $112,700 decrease from the current annual operating costs. With a 30 year term, the annual costs will be $683,000 – or a reduction of about $178,000.
At the end of her presentation, Roberts suggested that the council members should seriously consider converting the waste water facility to a pump station in order “to get out of the waste water treatment business entirely.”
“If you (keep the facility as) a treatment plant, then 20 to 30 years from now you will be looking at a project similar to the one we are talking about,” Roberts said. “Treatment plants go through a lot of wear and tear and they need to be upgraded. They need to meet state guidelines in order to get permits.”
“Right now we have options,” council President Wil Borkowski said. “I think it is better to actually hear the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal. The more people listening to the options and the more public input we can get, it works better for us in the long run.
“What I love about these proposals is that they are both viable and they both lower the cost of running the treatment plant. At the end, people will see what we will eventually save on our sewer bills. Nobody wants to pay too much for sewer. We wanted to come up with a solution that actually solves the problem. … The plant can’t run any longer in its current condition,” Borkowski said.