The Monterey Wastewater Plant project is on time and remains under budget, even after several change orders.
Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Duane Jarrett said the change orders covered minor adjustments like additional grading and fence repositioning. Wastewater Treatment Plant Supervisor Tim Hedgecough said the changes also include lab supplies like beakers and microscopes not available at the existing plant.
“It’s going to help us improve our wastewater discharge into the creek and stuff,” Hedgecough said. “It’ll be an improvement for the town of Monterey. We’ll be able to add more taps on it and stuff. The old wastewater plant is at its maximum right now.”
Hedgecough said he hopes to be moved in by the end of July. He said in three years of work, the project has not come without road bumps thanks to equipment delays and some unlucky weather.
“COVID set it way back when it came,” Hedgecough said. “It was hard to get anything ordered. Equipment and stuff…it was hard to get it and took a long time to get it in. That’s one of the things that’s held it up bad, and then the rain some, but COVID was the worst thing.”
He said the town has outgrown its current wastewater plant and he looks forward to moving into the new facility. Hedgecough said the plant is some 60 years old and outside of being too small, its age is beginning to show. The old facility is still able to serve the town adequately, but Hedgecough said that will not be the case for much longer if Monterey continues to grow.
“We’re meeting out permit now, but it’s just right at it,” Hedgecough said. “You know, it’s hard to meet it on some things because this plant just won’t do it.”
He said the facility is just one of two trickling filter plants remaining in Tennessee. He said the new materials provided by the recent change orders should only add to the facility’s ability to better serve the town of Monterey.
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