The new $20 million Greenwood wastewater treatment plant will require increases in city residents’ and businesses’ water rates, according to the vice president of the firm designing it.
David Bowman of the Jackson engineering firm Neel-Schaffer Inc. spoke to the City Council on Tuesday.
The new plant is required to meet tougher new water discharge standards.
Bowman said the project has moved to the design phase. The projected completion date is 2015.
The firm has applied for some grant money on behalf of the city from the Corps of Engineers, but water rate increases will be necessary, he said.
“We’re going to recommend taking steps, starting in the 2011 and 2012 fiscal year — three or four years of small increases that we would have to do in order to pay for a massive project such as this,” Bowman said.
No proposed specific fee increases were discussed at the meeting. Any such increase would have to be approved by the council and signed by Mayor Carolyn McAdams.
nContact Bob Darden at bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
