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Tulare staff and consultants recommend new oxidation-ditch wastewater plant as costs top $100 million
Summary
City staff and consultants told the Tulare City Council the town’s domestic wastewater plant is aging and effectively limited to about 4 million gallons per day; consultants recommended a new parallel “greenfield” plant using an oxidation ditch process with estimated costs between $100 million and $160 million, and lifecycle costs of roughly $163M–$184M.
A city presentation on March 3 showed Tulare’s domestic wastewater treatment plant is near the end of its useful life and faces capacity limits because wastewater concentrations have risen even as flows fell. The city received a draft facility plan from consultants Corolla Engineers recommending construction of a new parallel wastewater plant using an oxidation ditch process.
The draft report, presented by Tricia Winfield and principal consultant Ryan Selman, said the original plant — much of it built in 1974 and expanded in 1996 — was designed for a higher flow but now treats higher pollutant loads that reduce effective capacity. “With the loadings we are seeing today, the plant’s capacity is closer to 4 MGD, not 6 MGD,” Selman said,…
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