End in sight for costly projects

The end is within sight for one of two major construction projects undertaken by the City of Port Washington — updating the wastewater treatment plant.

Dan Fisher, the city’s superintendent of water and wastewater, said the $11 million project should be completed within the next several months.

One pump at the plant still needs to be replaced and the cover for the plant’s digester needs to be repaired, he said.

Work to rebuild the city’s water plant — a more than $18 million project responsible for a 67% increase in water rates — is on schedule, Fisher said, but that project won’t be completed until next year.

The plant essentially has two separate water treatment facilities, he said, and while construction has been ongoing only one of those has been operating since work began.

The city has been renovating the other plant, as well as making needed equipment upgrades and installing a new clearwell and pumps, he said. That work is nearing an end, Fisher said, and by mid-September the new plant should be operational.

“In a few weeks we’ll do the final tests of the electrical items with the new equipment,” Fisher said. “Once the plant is running, we’ll do testing for 10 to 14 days.”

Fisher said that while it’s “scary” starting the new pumps, it will also be a huge step forward for the utility.

“Getting off the old, 70-year-old equipment will be great,” he said. “It’s a big milestone for us.”

If there are no issues, he said, that plant will go online and the other will be taken out of commission and upgraded.

But that doesn’t mean it will take another year to complete the project, Fisher said.

Because work on items used by both plants has been done, such as the new clearwell, this phase is only expected to take until early 2027.

The project, originally expected to cost $18.1 million, is over budget and is now expected to cost $20 million, Fisher said, with change orders covering items that weren’t anticipated.

The Board of Public Works last week approved installing bollards around the water plant as a security measure intended to protect the new clearwell.

Because of the site, Fisher said, the city can’t fence the entire building. But by placing bollards around the structure, the city will be able to potentially block a vehicle from striking the building.

“It really is important to us to protect this,” Fisher said. “We have had vehicles skip the curb and end up on this property.”

The bollards will take the form of concrete planters that will be maintained by the utility with guidance from the Parks and Recreation Department, he said.

Twelve of the planters will be 26-by-18-by-25 inches and set along the west and south walls. Another 11 planters will be 48-inches square and placed along Lake Street and on the south side of the building.

The city is also considering planting trees between the largest planters to increase security and add to the ambience.

Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven noted that the city had planned to work with the Paint on Port project to install murals and sculptures at the plant, but that effort has been put on hold.

“I would say this has turned out to be a fairly attractive building,” Vanden Noven said.

The bollards will add to that, he said, as well as protect the city’s investment.