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Wastewater director: Northside treatment plant planned as flows near capacity
Summary
Wastewater Director Ed Holland told the Jasper Common Council the department treated roughly 973 million gallons in 2025 and is planning a new Northside treatment plant to address capacity limits; financing remains the key challenge after the project ranked 14th in the state SRF list. The city has purchased 7.5 acres for the site and is pursuing design and alternative financing.
Ed Holland, speaking for the Jasper wastewater department, told the council the department is "in good shape financially and operationally" while laying out why the city must build a new Northside treatment plant.
"In 2025, the wastewater department treated approximately 973,000,000 gallons of wastewater," Holland said, and he listed recent work the department completed: inspecting 246 private sewer laterals (72 failing), adding 26 new sewer connections, and applying about 352 tons of biosolids to farmland. Holland said the primary reason for the Northside project "is capacity" because the existing system has reached its limits and constrains future residential and commercial development on Jasper's north side.
Holland told the council the city has purchased 7.5 acres on Portersville Road ("we're gonna use 5 of them") and that Midwestern engineers are finishing design work intended to be bid in mid-2027. He said financing is uncertain: the project ranked 14th this year in the Indiana Finance Authority state revolving fund (SRF) program, leaving it outside the fundable range (only the top six are currently funded). "Since we are currently outside that range, we are evaluating open market financing as another option," Holland said, while continuing to monitor the SRF list in case projects ahead of Jasper are delayed or withdrawn.
Holland also outlined additional capital work: replacing an aging headworks grit classifier (estimated at about $200,000), upgrading the sludge process building with a screw press and thickener, and installing clarifier baffles recommended by Donahue and Associates to improve permit compliance. He estimated those upgrades at between $1.5 million and $2 million over this year and next and flagged staffing and retirements as a separate operational challenge: "Collectively, that's well over 200 years of experience leaving the department in a relatively short period of time," he said.
The council asked about hiring and training; Holland confirmed the department runs training programs and sends staff to association courses to replace institutional knowledge over time.
