Repairs at the Town of Highlands sewer plant are being made following the allocation of $100,000 by the board of commissioners in December.
According to Highlands Public Works Director Lamar Nix, one of the tanks at the sewer plant is offline due to a mechanical malfunction.
“In one of the sequential batch reactor tanks, we have two that work in tandem, one of the decanters has come apart and separated,” Nix said. “I don’t expect the cost of the repair itself to be great, but to know that I have to drain the tanks and get the sludge out of the bottom of it.”
Finding a company to clean out a tank at a sewer plant is multifaceted task. The town put the job out for bid and has received multiple proposals. Nix is in the process of choosing from qualified companies.
Nix noted that repairing the decanter itself is not an overly complex job and will be handled by town staff once the tank is cleaned out. He added that the sequential nature of the sewer plant means there will be no disruption of service while the repairs are being made.
“The best way we can do that is to bring in a company to pump the tank, belt press that material and take it to the landfill rather than reprocess it through the other side of the plant,” Nix said. “Once that is done we can make the repair to that decanter. We have never had this problem before, so it is very rare.”
Commissioner Amy Patterson asked if any of the broken parts in the sewer plant tank would be under warranty. Nix noted that the tank has been in service for more than 15 years and thus all warranties have expired.