Utilities director reports steady operations, major capital projects and ongoing wastewater upgrades

Utilities Director Adam Stiry presented the departmentʼs quarterly operations and capital update. He reported the water system treated roughly 720,000,000 gallons in the quarter, with 26% nonrevenue water; the wastewater system treated about 250,000,000 gallons and averaged roughly 2,800,000 gallons per day (about 58% of collection capacity).

Stiry said the city is moving forward on an 8‑mile water distribution resiliency looping project intended to provide redundant feeds to parts of the system and support new industrial connections; total project funding is about $17.3 million, including a $6.75 million SRF grant, $1.86 million CDBG economic development grant and $1.94 million from Golden Leaf. On wastewater improvements, he described two linked projects — flood mitigation and expansion — with the flood mitigation carrying a price tag of over $100 million and the expansion to bring permitted capacity from 4.8 to 6.0 million gallons per day estimated at about $23 million.

On funding, Stiry noted the city recently secured a $35,000,000 low‑interest SRF loan toward flood mitigation and is pursuing a USEDA grant (just over $20,000,000) for the expansion. "That $35,000,000 low‑interest loan will save our rate payers $11,000,000 just through financing," he said. He also said the biosolids thermal dryer project is expected to be operational in early 2027 and should significantly reduce landfill solids.