The biggest-dollar infrastructure issue facing Lyons is the wastewater treatment facility (which I’ll call, with irony intended, the “WWTF”). The Town may have to spend $4 million, or $10 million, or more to repair and upgrade it.
That’s a big chunk of change for a town our size and raises obvious questions like “How can we pay for that?” and “Will taxes or sewer rates have to go up?” (Answer: maybe not, depending on choices made. See “How Can We Pay For It?” below.)
First let’s look at where we are and how we got here. “Didn’t we just pay a lot for a new plant?” some may ask.
What We’ve Got
The current WWTF went on line in December 2015, replacing (on the same spot) an old plant in imminent danger of failing. Pre-flood (2013), two engineering reports confirmed a new plant was essential. A “connect to Longmont” option was explored, but that would’ve cost too much and taken too long (9-mile pipeline requiring many hard-to-get easements).
The new plant cost about $5.5 million. A bigger, better plant could have been done, but cost was (like always) an issue. The higher the cost, the higher sewer rates you pay. No free lunch.
Honeywell, which was doing an energy costs study for Lyons, was selected as general contractor. Honeywell promised big energy savings from the new plant. Honeywell and an engineering firm warned that the lower-cost option selected was designed to treat residential wastewater only, not high-strength industrial wastewater or even FOG (“fat-oil-grease”)-laden wastewater from local restaurants.
The plant was an operational nightmare from the start. Promised energy cost savings weren’t realized. Design and construction errors became apparent. Operating costs soared.
The Town blamed Honeywell and its subcontractors. Honeywell blamed the Town for not controlling high-strength wastewater intake or FOG, saying the plant wasn’t designed for what the Town was letting go into it.
The Town sued Honeywell. Honeywell counter-sued, seeking $550,000 of contract “extras”. Honeywell invoked arbitration. Both sides spent a lot of money on lawyers and expert witnesses. The Town raised sewer rates to pay for plant operation and the lawsuit..
The suit was settled in 2023, with Honeywell paying $1.8 million. But the Town had spent $400,000 or more on lawsuit costs, so it netted less than $1.4 million.
In the meantime, the Town got a new operating permit from the State, necessitated by inflow “load” (Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Total Suspended Solids) that exceeded prior permit limits. As a condition for the permit, plant upgrades were required.
The WWTF we have now is, in a sense,, held together by bandaids and duct tape. The odor control system is broken, which causes bad smells. The centrifuge stopped working (costing $10,000/week to haul off untreated sludge), but was repaired and is now operating at reduced capacity. The ultraviolet treatment system needs totally replacing. The blowers are undersized. Piping needs rerouting. And much more.
That’s where we are with the current plant. In a mess.
Where We’re Headed
Consor Engineering is nearing the 30% design point for a repaired, upgraded plant. The design contract alone is for $635,000. Actual repairs and upgrades will cost much more.
How much? JVA Engineering, in 2024, did an in-depth study and laid out a set of options. Depending on how much additional volume and organic load (high-strength wastewater inflow) is anticipated, costs could range from $4.5 million up to $18 million.
The timetable to complete design and begin construction is uncertain, partly because the State has to sign off on design. Then a construction contract has to be bid out. Then the work has to be done. (Likely not by Honeywell.)
For part of the work, there’s really no choice. State-required upgrades (a condition of the new permit) are estimated at $1.6 million. Replace the “just hanging on” centrifuge? $880,000. Replace the broken odor control system? $1,040,000. Replace the UV system? $340,000. And those numbers don’t account for construction inflation over the build-out time.
The repaired/upgraded plant should las aboutt 10 years. More if we’re lucky. (We haven’t been.) Then the Town gets to do the whole thing again.
Why not join up with Longmont, like we do for water? JVA’s 2024 estimate for that option was $20,200.000. We don’t (and won’t) have $20 million.
How Do We Pay For It?
Even if WWTF repairs and upgrades “only” cost $5 million or so, that’s a big challenge for Lyons, which will struggle to avoid budget deficits in 2027 or later even if there were no big capital project costs. (And there are others coming besides the WWTF.)
So how to pay the WWTF costs?
There are several possible financing sources. One is remaining money from the Honeywell settlement, though that may shrink if more interim repairs and costs (like sludge-hauling) are needed. There’s also $300,000 from selling the old Apple Valley water treatment plant. The Town also has somewhere around $500,000 of surplus water rights, though monetizing those isn’t easy.
Grants would be nice (and will be looked into), but federal grant money for Colorado is a long shot at best these days. And the State is looking at big budget deficits. The chances of getting another $1 million grant like we got for the existing plant aren’t great.
Low interest (maybe 3%) loans from the State are the most likely source of bridging the gap between the Town’s own funds and the $4.5+ million cost. That’s how the current plant was mostly paid for: low-interest State loans we’re still paying back. In 2024, Lyons paid off an old water system loan with annual debt service of $300,000, so we have some borrowing capacity in the combined Water/Wastewater Fund.
Summary
We have to fix and upgrade the WWTF. The process is underway. Exactly what all we end up doing is yet to be decided. Whatever we do will cost a lot. We have some ways to fund it, but it will be a stretch. Whether sewer rates will go up depends on what repair/replacement options we choose and what the State does. When we talk about infrastructure in Lyons, the WWTF is the Big Kahuna.