Officials say the city needs a $29 million loan to improve Muskogee’s aging water treatment plant.

Renovations would likely cost residents a utility rate increase.

While the facility has been able to keep up with increasingly strict drinking water standards, officials said time is taking a toll on the plant. Water leaks discovered this year have caused pipes to break and undermined the structural integrity of a building at the Port of Muskogee plant.

The City Council approved in August spending about $225,000 to repair those leaks. That project is being funded by excess revenue collected from a sales tax approved five years ago as part of a capital improvements program.

Members of the Muskogee Finance Committee will be asked today to approve a resolution authorizing the city to apply for a $29 million loan to fund a water treatment plant renovation project.

Documents indicate a possible repayment source for that loan would be rate hikes for water and sewer service.

City Manager Walt Beckham said any action taken today regarding the loan is intended to place the city in a position of eligibility for funding from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s low-interest loan program.

“We are not doing anything except positioning ourselves so we can get funding when we need it,” Beckham said. “It (funding) is something that could happen in the next year or two.”

In order to qualify for the OWRB’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program, Beckham said, projects must be included on the agency’s priority list and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality’s Current Intended Use Plan. Other criteria also apply.

City Engineer Steve Almon said the bulk of the loan proceeds, should they become available, would be used primarily to rebuild clarifiers and filters and update the rest of the facility.

“The bottom line is the plant is about 80 years old,” Almon said. “It has been maintained well, but it needs to be updated.”

Almon said a local engineering firm will present a preliminary report today during the Public Works Committee meeting, laying out a plan to address the plant’s specific needs. Almon said the engineering report, to be presented by Holloway Updike and Bellen Inc., will include a timeline for the renovation project.

“The biggest problem we face is how we will be able to phase in improvements while keeping the plant operating,” Almon said. “If the resolution is approved, we will immediately begin securing the financing.”

If the resolution authorizing the loan application is approved by the committee, the matter would be presented to the City Council for consideration during its next regular meeting.

Reach D.E. Smoot at 918-684-2903 or Click Here to Send Email