Stimulus boosts sewer projects

About $49 million in "shovel-ready" sewer projects are expected to be approved by Utah water quality board members at their meeting today in St. George as part of more federal stimulus funding Utah has received.

It means that Stockton residents can likely switch from septic tanks to sewer lines, and that methane gas will be captured and used to power part of Salt Lake's treatment plant.

A total of $155 million in funding for 18 projects was reviewed by the state Division of Water Quality, and multiple priority requests will be heard by the board.

Ed Macauley, the division's engineering manager, said $20 million of the project money expected to be approved comes directly from the federal stimulus package, while the rest will come from ongoing capitalization grants from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The stimulus money, which has to be spent by February 2010 or risk forfeiture, will support key sewer projects for a variety of communities that are long overdue, Macauley said.

"These are good projects, nice green projects," he said. "Primarily, we look at projects that benefit water quality, if they're green and if they are shovel-ready projects."

Those projects come at a time when government can get more bang for its buck because bids are competitively lower, Macauley said.

"This will put people to work, stimulate a depressed sector," he said.

Macauley said key projects expected to be approved for priority funding include:

$12 million for upgrades to Orem's wastewater treatment plant.

$11 million for Stockton's community-wide sewer system.

$7 million for upgrades to digesters at Salt Lake's wastewater treatment plant to capture methane gas.

$5 million to accelerate replacement of "back-lot" sewer lines in Kearns, which pose repair and accessibility problems.

$1 million for replacement of a pump station in Duchesne.

Macauley said many of the projects have a "green component," such as Stockton's plans to construct "facultative" lagoons that combine a solar and wind component to treat wastewater.

E-MAIL: amyjoi@desnews.com