By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The construction contract to rebuild the 54-year-old wastewater treatment facility was approved unanimously by Hays City Commissioners Thursday night.

The $28.4 million dollar bid from Burns and McDonnell/CAS Constructors is $800,000 more than the $27.6 million dollars budgeted for the project, but is not expected to increase customers’ rates, according to City Manage Toby Dougherty.

Stan Christopher with HDR Engineering, the city’s Owner’s Representative for the project, told commissioners the design should meet the anticipated stricter requirements in permits from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for 20 years.

”We’ve been told they’re going to have lower ammonia limits. The performance of this plant from the outset will meet those limits. There are things in this plant that we have incorporated that will help you meet the next level of nutrients, should they be applied.”

The city was fined $18,000 in 2012 by the EPA for excessive levels of phosphorous and nitrate.

The deadline for the rebuilt plant to be fully operational is Sept. 1, 2019.