Johnson County seeks agreement with Little Blue Valley for emergency wastewater disposal during Nelson plant work

The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners will consider next week an agreement with the Little Blue Valley Sewer District to provide an emergency disposal point for wastewater residuals while the Nelson Wastewater Treatment Facility is under construction.

At an agenda-review meeting on May 22, 2025, Susan Pekarek, director of Johnson County Wastewater, described the arrangement as a contingency to preserve operations if Nelson becomes unable to process residuals from the Blue River and New Century treatment facilities. "Our Blue River Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is located at 150 First and roughly Kenneth Road, near State Line, the residuals from this facility go to our Nelson treatment facility to be processed," Pekarek said. "During construction for Nelson, we continue to treat those residuals at the facility at the Nelson facility. However, our storage is smaller."

Pekarek said county staff have negotiated with Little Blue Valley to accept residuals at a connection point just east of that facility and would prepare an access point, including gravel and removal of a tree, and obtain required permits if the board approves the agreement on May 29. "We would go ahead and take care of that so that if in an emergency we would have this opportunity. So we hope we don't have to use it, but it's, it's our emergency backup should we need to use it during the construction of the plant," she said.

Commissioners pressed on site selection and alternatives. Commissioner Ashcraft asked whether the site was chosen solely for proximity and whether other options had been considered. Pekarek replied that proximity drove the choice and that other utilities were considered but lacked capacity; she added that bringing temporary processing on-site was another option but "that would have been very costly to do so."

Chairman Mike Kelly praised the wastewater department for planning contingencies and noted he had reviewed the draft agreement, including the indemnification language and the department's plan to prepare the access route.

No formal vote took place at the May 22 agenda review; the item will appear on the board's consent or regular agenda for the May 29, 2025 business session for possible approval. If approved, county staff plan to proceed with permitting and constructing the access point and related site work so the Little Blue Valley connection is available only if needed during construction.

Background: The agreement is framed as an emergency backup for the Nelson Wastewater Treatment Facility improvements project and does not, as presented on May 22, authorize immediate transfer of residuals; actual use would occur only if Nelson cannot process the material. Funding sources, detailed cost estimates for the access work, and any required Little Blue Valley permit or interlocal terms were discussed at a high level and were not specified in detail during the agenda review.