PUD Trustees dispute Oxford sewer plant report

PARIS — Trustees of the Paris Utility District dispute the findings of a report published in April by engineering firm Woodard and Curran that recommends constructing a new sewage treatment plant in Oxford.

In particular, trustees disagree with the report's assertion that the PUD facility would be unable to handle the entire anticipated 250,000-gallon waste load from Oxford.

During their September 16 meeting, trustees questioned Woodard and Curran project manager Brent Bridges on the findings.

The report does say that PUD could accommodate the flow from north Oxford, the neighborhood closest to the Paris facility.

According to PUD Manager Steve Arnold, the facility is licensed for 650,000 gallons maximum –  it currently handles 250,000-300,000 gallons of waste per day.

With improvements to the system to fix some infiltration and inflow issues, it could be reduced to 200,000 gallons a day and easily accommodate Oxford's anticipated flow, said Arnold. 

Board Chairman Mark Bancroft questioned why it wouldn't be more logical to connect Oxford directly to the PUD, particularly after the recent $8 million upgrade to the facility, also designed by Woodard and Curran.

Bancroft suggested that the $18 million cost of the Oxford project estimated in the report was significantly more expensive than constructing a system that connected to PUD.

Bridges said that the Woodard and Curran report stated that PUD could handle the 120,000 gallons of daily waste anticipated in Phase I of the Oxford project, but taking the entire 250,000 could be challenging.

"You're running 250 normal flow right now," Bridges told the trustees. "To accept another 250, it's just not set up to do that."

Additionally, Phase I of the proposed project is located in the southern part of Oxford, the furthest distance from PUD, making piping an issue.

According to Bridges, Oxford did not want to restrict its growth by attaching itself to the PUD, which might not be able to handle all the anticipated waste.

He iterated that PUD could handle the waste load from northern Oxford, and the town might be able to work out a split arrangement.

Bancroft said that the 250,000 figure seemed somewhat unrealistic – he suggested that it would take decades for Oxford to reach that level of waste production.

PUD Manager Steve Arnold agreed that building an expensive new facility based on future numbers seemed short-sighted.

According to Trustee Janet Jameson, bringing some Oxford residents onto the PUD system could lower rates for everyone and give PUD the resources it needed to make necessary improvements and increase capacity.

"It would be better for everybody if we could work together on this," she said.

"If we could take some of the strain, or possible future strain off our rate payers and maybe a whole lot of hurt off Oxford, I think everybody wins."