Michigan City outlines $104 million wastewater plan, highlights safety upgrades and in‑house savings

Michigan City sanitary district leaders and consultants on May 20 presented a preliminary capital improvement plan that combines major treatment‑plant upgrades with collection‑system projects and sets a preliminary cost estimate at about $104 million.

The presentation, delivered in a joint workshop with the Common Council, said the highest priorities include replacing the aging sludge digester complex and modernizing the plant SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system because those assets pose safety risks and are critical to plant operations. Consultants said site constraints at the existing plant will require siting new digesters on adjacent district‑owned property across Trail Creek and moving flow by directionally bored piping during construction.

Rhonda Anderson, the wastewater superintendent, described the plant’s treatment train — bar screens and grit removal, primary and secondary biological treatment, sand filtration and final disinfection and dechlorination before discharge to Trail Creek — and showed 10‑year performance charts indicating the plant currently meets its daily permit limits for conventional parameters. Anderson also described a recent maintenance program that removed biological growth from chlorine contact tanks and cleared debris from aeration channels after staff detected dissolved‑oxygen imbalances and a small ammonia spike; preventive maintenance schedules were added to avoid future permit risk.

The team reported a significant in‑house cost saving on biosolids handling. Staff said they moved from contractor hauling that previously cost roughly $113,000 annually to an in‑house operation this spring that cost about $10,000, a reported 91% reduction. An SOP was created to preserve institutional knowledge and standardize the process.

Consultants said the city submitted a preliminary engineering report to the state revolving fund (SRF) program by the March 31 deadline. The earlier plant‑only estimate of about $101 million was refined, and four large collection and lift‑station projects totaling about $12 million were added, bringing the revised preliminary estimate to roughly $104 million. Planned near‑term work includes completing 30% drawings for the Lafayette Barker outfall, primary clarifier pilot testing, and hydraulic modeling and asset inventories. Major construction phases are scheduled to begin in 2028 for primary-clarifier upgrades, with additional multi‑year work on septic‑cluster elimination, lift stations and sewer lining.

The consultants described adopting UV disinfection technology as part of the modernization plan to eliminate daily handling of one‑ton chlorine cylinders and reduce hazardous chemical risk at the plant. They said pilot testing (primary clarifier) is nearly complete and will inform final design.

Staff stressed coordination between sewer projects and roadway work so that trenches are dug only once where possible; timing will depend on grant awards and municipal road project schedules. The team said they will continue to seek SRF and other funding and will return to the board and council with updated designs and cost estimates.

The presentation also covered asset‑condition assessments for 45 lift stations (the first comprehensive review since 2012), identification of septic clusters inside the city that pose a raw‑sewage‑to‑Trail Creek risk if they fail, and a list of 13 short‑to‑mid‑term sanitary/storm projects included in the CIP.

The workshop concluded with a pledge of transparency: materials will be posted online, a work‑order system will track maintenance and projects, and staff promised further public updates as engineering and funding progress.