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Consultants report 60% design, EPA open to phased extension for Vermilion wastewater upgrades
Summary
Consultants told council the wastewater plant 60% design is complete and the U.S. EPA is receptive to a phased consent-order extension; options include phasing improvements, regionalizing to a new "61 19" sewer district, or building a pump station to send flows elsewhere. Design completion is targeted for April 2025 and construction for 2026 under the extension.
Consultants updated the Vermilion utilities committee on the city's wastewater-treatment project, saying the team has submitted 60% design documents and aims to finish design by April 2025 as it negotiates a consent-order extension with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Mayor (speaker 3) introduced Ben Sanchez, the consultant leading the presentation, who said the 60% package included roughly 400 drawings and specifications and that some design disciplines are as high as 90% complete while others remain at about 60%. Sanchez said the team has installed 16 meters and additional rain gauges across the collection system and plans CCTV inspections of about 500 manholes to calibrate hydraulic models and locate inflow-and-infiltration (I&I) hotspots.
"We're modeling your collection system so that we calibrate it," Sanchez said. "When we have it all calibrated, then we could check different drainage districts to see where the worst areas are." He described a planned CCTV program and downstream/upstream inspections to improve GIS data and inform pipe, pump and detention alternatives.
Sanchez outlined a phased approach to manage cost and compliance: short-term improvements to replace aging equipment and patch critical systems, a midterm step that aligns processes for later upgrades, and a long-term conversion of the biological treatment process if required. He said the city's original planning budget was in the low- to mid-70 millions and that phasing could control near-term spending.
The consultant said EPA is receptive to a phased extension of the consent order to allow the city to complete its study and phased work, noting two compliance schedules currently under discussion that would extend some deadlines into 2028 and 2031. "The extension is gonna be a letter to the mayor," Sanchez said, adding that dates in the letter would match the city's schedule once finalized.
Councilors and the finance director pressed on costs and the implications for rate increases and existing borrowing. One council member asked whether phasing could reduce the $76,000,000 project estimate; the consultant said final savings remain unclear until the model and alternatives are complete and that regionalization via a "61 19" sewer district could be a lower-cost option if that district becomes available. "If the 61 19 doesn't come to fruition, then you are gonna have to make the improvements to the plant," Sanchez said, adding that phasing may allow the city to postpone or avoid long-term plant replacement.
City staff said the meter data have been collected since April and will run a full 12 months to calibrate the model; design work will continue in early 2025 and construction of required collection-system improvements is expected to begin in 2026 if the extension is approved in writing. The presentation closed with council members requesting more precise phase-cost estimates and a copy of EPA's extension letter once it is issued.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the project's design approach at the meeting; next steps are continued modeling, the CCTV inspections, and finalizing the schedule to submit to EPA for the extension.
