With the completion of the $2.5 million upgrade at the Osawatomie Wastewater Treatment Plant, City Council members took a tour of the plant recently. Osawatomie’s Director of Utilities, Terry Upshaw, says the most important improvements are the new ultraviolet disinfection system units referred to as U-VS. The old ones were failing, causing the plant to fall out of compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit in 2020. The permit program, created in 1972 by the Federal Clean Water Act, addresses water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into water sources, like the Marais des Cygnes river. The UV’s are working great and Upshaw says the city is putting better water into the river today than two years ago when they were failing tests.
The improvements were paid for with the help of a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant. City Manager Brett Glendening says the next big project for the city will be a new water plant that is expected to cost close to $30 million. He says the city is seeking federal and state funding to help pay for the majority of the plant.
