Paris council hears update on wastewater plant phases 1 and 2; startup, commissioning set to begin
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Summary
Garver engineer Justin Ratcliffe told the Paris City Council that phase 1 of the city's wastewater treatment plant is nearing commissioning and that phase 2 work is advancing on sites that overlap with phase 1. Council members asked about inspections, electrical savings and public outreach.
Justin Ratcliffe, the project manager for Garver, gave the Paris City Council an on-site construction update Sept. 22 on phases 1 and 2 of the city’s wastewater treatment plant improvements.
Ratcliffe said startup and commissioning meetings for phase 1 will begin the week following the presentation, and he reiterated the project’s current estimated substantial- and final-completion windows: substantial completion in January 2026 and final completion in April 2026. "I'm very happy to announce that we will have start up and commissioning meetings that will start next week. So that's the last lap of this race," Ratcliffe said.
The update matters because the work is intended to increase treatment capacity and plant reliability, reduce ongoing operations costs and ensure the plant continues to meet federal discharge standards. "This will have a lower electrical use than the existing facility," Ratcliffe said, adding that the upgrade also improves the system’s resiliency and reduces operations-and-maintenance demands. He said the plant is designed to meet or exceed requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
Ratcliffe walked the council through the construction phasing and showed renderings and aerial photos. He emphasized phasing where elements of phase 2 overlap phase 1, and where one contractor must finish work before another can safely access adjacent areas. He said engineers and contractors spent extra effort to reduce interdependencies between the two contracts so Drake (phase 2) can begin work as soon as Thale (phase 1 contractor) clears areas.
On progress by site, Ratcliffe reported these approximate completion levels as of the presentation:
- Aeration basins and blower buildings (Site 1): about 85% complete; diffused aerators are staged and low-pressure stainless-steel air piping is in place. Encore (utility) transformers were being arranged for temporary and permanent power hookups.
- Primary clarifiers (Site 2): about 79% complete; clarifiers, launders and the primary sludge pump station are largely in place.
- RAS/WAS pump station and MLSS splitter box (Site 3): roughly 73% complete; these structures route return activated sludge and waste activated sludge and distribute flow to final clarifiers.
- Final clarifiers: about 56%–57% complete; the team is discussing refurbishing the drive unit on one existing clarifier as part of the contract.
- Recycle flow pump station and septic receiving station: roughly 76% complete; the new receiving station includes a quick-connect fitting and screening to improve downstream processing.
- Dewatering building (Site 5): about 92% complete; the building has three bay doors and includes infrastructure to receive a belt filter press to be installed in phase 2. Waste solids will be loaded into dumpsters on the building’s right side and then hauled to landfill.
For phase 2, Ratcliffe showed early work on a flow-equalization basin (FEB), the FEB electrical building (about 37% complete), headworks with fine screening and two VISTA vortex grit removal systems (about 25% complete), and an inflow lift station excavation that had weather-related delays but ongoing progress (an older photo in the presentation showed that element about 5% complete). He said a proposed force-main realignment was generally complete except for turf restoration.
Council members asked about on-site inspection and who signs off as construction proceeds. Ratcliffe said Garver’s contract includes a third-party construction inspection firm, Great Plains, which provides two full-time inspectors who "are responsible for each of the respective projects, and they're on-site the entire time that the contractor is there." He said the inspectors review plans and specifications and notify Garver and the city of any deficiencies.
Council members also asked whether residents would see tangible benefits, such as lower bills or improved service. Ratcliffe said the most visible operational benefit will be reduced electrical use citywide; other benefits are resiliency and lower long-term maintenance needs. "You can have more confidence to know that everything that goes out of that plant meets or exceeds what the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System requires," he said.
Speakers from Garver and representatives from the contractors (Drake and Thale) were introduced during the presentation; the council and staff discussed opportunities for future public engagement, including water awareness events and guided plant visits after construction is complete.
Ratcliffe and council members thanked the contractors, Garver, and plant staff; the council received the update with no action required. The next public milestone is the start-up and commissioning meetings scheduled to begin the week after the Sept. 22 presentation, with the current estimated completion dates in early 2026.
