Muskogee’s problems with its wastewater collection and transportation system aren’t anything new. Problems have been percolating for more than three decades.

The issue bubbled to the surface again after the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality issued a consent order that levies fines and mandates specific action. The order was prompted by a major raw sewage spill and inaccurate reports submitted by the city.

City Engineer Steve Almon said compliance is expected to cost at least $375,000 initially but could end up costing the city another $3 million.

The lion’s share of the total projected cost, Almon said, would be for an extensive examination of Muskogee sanitary sewer lines. The survey, according to Jay Updike of Holloway Updike and Bellen Inc., would cost an estimated $3 million if completed as proposed.

The consent order approved this past week by the City Council requires only the development of an approvable work plan proposing the sanitary sewer evaluation survey. Almon said once the plan is submitted, ODEQ likely will require completion of the survey by amending its consent order.

Carl Greuel, a Muskogee resident who used to work for the local engineering firm, said the thought of tax- and ratepayers having to foot the bill for the survey angers him.

“I don’t know why this would be done again,” said Greuel, who was a member of Holloway Engineering’s technical team, which conducted a similar survey about 30 years ago. “We did all this work — smoke tests and visual inspections — that they are planning to do again. Why didn’t these problems get fixed back then?”

Greuel said the survey, which he recalls being done during the late 1970s, included the collection of data used to compile technical reports and recommendations for repairs and replacement. Greuel said those recommendations also proposed rate increases to help pay for necessary repairs.

Updike of Holloway Updike and Bellen said the three-decade-old survey was completed through a federal grant program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The program provided a 75 percent federal match for local funds for the improvement of municipal wastewater collection and treatment systems.

The 1970s-era survey, Updike said, consisted of two separate projects. The first phase focused on the infiltration of stormwater into the wastewater collection system.

“Back then there was so much stormwater getting into the system that it would overflow the system when it reached the treatment plant,” Updike said. “We did an analysis to determine whether it was better to treat the stormwater or find a way to get rid of it.”

As a result of the analysis, Updike said the city constructed two, 90 million-gallon basins to store the effluent that was more abundant during periods of heavy rain until it could be treated and discharged into the Arkansas River.

The second phase, Updike said, focused on efforts to find sewer-line leaks in the oldest sewer lines located within the original townsite. The city reportedly spent about $500,000 to repair major leaks located during the second phase.