Greenville’s Wastewater Treatment Plant has been discharging minimally-treated wastewater into the river, which was officially reported last month by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), due to operational issues at the plant.
The MDEQ on Nov. 22 issued a Water Contact Advisory for segments of the Mississippi River.
The advisory included the section of the river beginning near coordinates N33.354134 W91.129622 and ends one mile downstream near Warfield Point Dike at Mississippi River Mile Marker 536 near coordinates N33.343036 W91.141387.
Since then, city officials have been working to acquire a solution to mitigate those operational issues quickly and efficiently.
The same is being done for the Hancock Force Main project.
“What we’re doing now is what we should’ve been doing 30, 40 and 50 years ago. That is proper maintenance and upkeep of our wastewater treatment plant and infrastructure across the city,” Mayor Errick Simmons said.
Every city, town or municipality is charged with making sure that it treats wastewater.
The plant treats the water that travels through the sewer lines, which often have to be repaired, before it goes into a natural waterway, which for Greenville and surrounding cities, is the Mississippi River.
Simmons said because of the flood of 2019, which was historic in both scope and duration, the river remained above flood stage for over 151 days and subsequently exacerbated and worsened the problem at the Wastewater Treatment Plant tremendously.
“Because we were above flood stage for all that time, we had issues with the grit chamber and other parts of the plant,” Simmons explained. “We had a stop work order from the Levee Board and other state and federal agencies because they had to wait until the water went down below the flood stage, which is 48 feet for us here in Greenville, to do the necessary repairs.”
One of the main and most likely pressing concerns of the city is the funding for the projects.
“We’ve spent in the tune of $20 million on sanitary, sewer and infrastructure repairs collection systems,” Simmons said.
Bids for the Hancock Force Main, which is where a great deal of industry lies, will be opening soon, Simmons said.
Those businesses treat the water they use for their products and everything they put into the Greenville sanitary system is taken back to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, hence the reason the project needs to be addressed quickly and efficiently.
A considerable amount of money has been spent over the last four years from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funds to Community Development Block Grant funds (CDBG), as well as a $9 million bond a year or so ago taken up by the City of Greenville taxpayers to help with infrastructure.
Simmons said that is why now, he and others are working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the MDEQ to make sure everything is being done to treat the water before it is discharged into the river.
Not only that, but they are working to acquire $4 million worth of funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) as well to mend infrastructure and municipal damages which include the wastewater treatment plant, collection systems and sewer failures.
There have been 30 sewer failures and 30 street failures as a result of the flood and the saturation of the water according to Simmons.
During a meeting last week, the city council heard from South Delta Planning and Development District Executive Director Tommy Goodwin and Director of Community Development Allyson Denson about potential sources of funding for the Wastewater Treatment Plant project and the Hancock Main Force project.
One of the sources discussed was a state revolving fund (SRF), a fund administered by a U.S. state for the purpose of providing low-interest loans for investments in water and sanitation infrastructure among other investments.
With the SRF, the city has to be able to show it can account for the same loan amount it applies for.
The other potential source discussed was an Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant.
Programs under the EDA umbrella provide economically distressed communities and regions with comprehensive and flexible resources to address a wide variety of economic needs.
One of those programs, the Disaster Supplemental Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), especially appealed to the mayor and council because the City of Greenville, to a high degree, meets the standards of eligibility for funding.
Identified as a “cooperative agreement grant,” its category is explained as, “Subject to the availability of funds, this investment assistance will help communities and regions devise and implement long-term economic recovery strategies through a variety of non-construction and construction projects, as appropriate, to address economic challenges in areas where a Presidential declaration of a major disaster was issued under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act as a result of Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Lane and other natural disasters occurring in calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring in 2019.
As lengthy as the language may be, it appeals, along with the $587,000,000 award ceiling, to the mayor and council.
There are drawbacks, however, as it pertains to the potential dollar amount the city could receive from the grant.
“We’re having to fall back and regroup and reassess what we’re going to try to apply for,” Denson said. “We were planning to pursue EDA funds for the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Hancock Force Main, however, it has come to our attention that those two items are already too far along in the process to be eligible for EDA funds.”
Denson said they’re going to have to assess a rather long list of items with the sewer system and see what other components could possibly be eligible for them to apply for under the EDA.
“We’re trying to pursue their supplemental disaster funding, so whatever we do, had to have been impacted by the flood of the spring and summer,” she said.
In addition to the Hancock Force Main and Wastewater Treatment plant, there are sewer projects needing to be addressed as well.
It is the council’s hope at least some of those other projects will be eligible for the federal funding opportunities available.
“We feel confident in our team and we have a team of engineers, lawyers, public works, personnel and professionals who have worked on a local, state and federal level who we really feel confident in,” Simmons said. “We were handed a bag of failed infrastructure, but instead of putting the bag to the side and furthering the neglect problem, what this particular administration is doing is taking that bag, going inside that bag and fixing each problem, day by day.”
Until the problems are fixed, Simmons urges local residents to be patient.
“We’re asking our citizens to be patient and work with us as we redress our sanitary sewer system,” he said.
