Price tag is not only thing big about water plant

It’s not just the $21 million cost of Port Washington’s water treatment plant renovations that is huge.

It’s also the amount of materials used and the labor it takes.

Water Supt. Dan Fisher told the Common Council last week that crews installed 157 geopiers to support the foundation of an addition to the east side of the plant, a project that was completed on Nov. 13.

After the piers were completed, crews went to work installing forms and rebar for the floor of the addition.

The floor of the new 704,000-gallon clearwell, which is a major part of the addition, was poured in a continuous run of concrete, Fisher said.

It took a parade of 61 concrete trucks to bring in the roughly 550 cubic yards of concrete needed for the floor, he said, adding the floor was poured continuously from 7 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. on Nov. 26.

“They wanted to be done a little earlier,” he told aldermen, but because of the cold that day the project took a little longer than crews had hoped.

Fisher said that now crews are working on the walls of the clearwell, where treated water is stored before being sent out for distribution throughout the city, and on other areas of the plant.

Most of the winter will be spent finishing the clearwell, he said. That involves a number of additional concrete pours he said, “but small ones — not 61 at a time.”

The water plant project, required by the Department of Natural Resources, impacts everything in the building, Fisher said.

“Every room is being updated and touched,” he said. “We’re getting some much needed updates.”

The project started with installation of a new backup generator on Aug. 21, Fisher said. The generator was started for the first time just more than a month later, on Sept. 24.

Work then began on the addition, which contains not just the clearwell tank but also a trailer storage area, pump room and ultraviolet disinfection room, a new process for the water department, Fisher said.

“They say it (UV processing) kills 99.99% of any kind of bacteria or organisms,” he said. “This is another great way to make sure our water is clean.”

While work to excavate for the addition was done, crews discovered the foundation of the 1901 pump and power building, Fisher said.

“They just demoed it into the basement of the building,” he said, so crews needed to remove all the debris.

Crews also discovered two underground fuel tanks and needed to ensure there was no ground contamination before work could proceed, he said.

The Port water plant is actually two processing plants. Fisher said plant one has been removed from service, leaving plant two to handle the city’s water needs.

The plant has enough capacity to do that, he said.

But City Engineer Roger Strohm said the fact the city has only one operational processing plant “gives me a little angst at night. Plant two, it’s not quite bailing wire and duct tape, but it’s an old plant needing replacement.

“We’re just knocking on wood and hoping nothing goes down.”

City staff members and the contractors meet regularly to talk about what could go wrong and try to head off any potential issues, he said — important since there is no back up plant right now.

Work is proceeding inside the existing plant as well as in the addition, Fisher said.

Excess pipes are being removed in the sub-basement below the plant-one pump room and a couple of ceilings have been removed.

There’s a worker who every day sands and prepares pipes in the plant for painting, Fisher said, and after that’s done he will move to the walls.

A bathroom’s been demolished and Fisher said “my office is a mess.

“It’s been noisy and a little bit stinky but we continue to do our work.”

Fisher said plant two will likely be taken out of service in September 2025 so it can be rehabbed, and Strohm noted that the city wants to run plant one for a time before taking it down to ensure there are no issues.

The project is expected to be substantially completed by June 30, 2026 and totally done in August 2026.

Even as the water plant is undergoing repairs, so too is the wastewater plant.

Supt. Dan Buehler told aldermen that the $11 million project, which started in spring, doesn’t involve increasing capacity or reconfiguring processes.

“We’re just basically rehabbing different processes and changing out old equipment, much of it 35 years old.”

Many items needed for the project have been ordered, he said, but it takes a substantial amount of time to receive them.

“A lot of items have been ordered, but they aren’t here yet,” he said.

So far, there have been about $200,000 in additional work done, or about 1.8% of the project budget.

“It sounds like a big number, but it’s comfortable,” he said.

The wastewater project is expected to be substantially done by Sept. 30 with final completion slated for Oct. 31.

Buehler noted that even with the rate increases the utility has imposed, it has the lowest rates of any wastewater facility in Ozaukee County.