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Federal, State and Local Officials to Break Ground on $62M in Improvements to Columbia, Mo., Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility

Release Date: 01/11/2010
Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, 913-551-7557 or 816-719-6375 (cell for event only), lancaster.kris@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., January 11, 2010) - Ground will be broken on Thursday, January 14, for a $62 million construction project that will improve the Columbia Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Federal, state and local officials will participate in a formal ceremony to announce the project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As part of the Act, Missouri received $146 million for drinking water and wastewater projects.

The project is expected to create 58 new jobs when construction starts later this month. Completion of the project is projected for the summer of 2012.

The construction project will upgrade existing treatment facilities, increase biosolids-handling capabilities, improve the liquid treatment process, and provide better odor control.

Included in the treatment plant improvements are measures to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption. High-efficiency single-stage blowers, for example, will reduce annual energy consumption by 26 percent. A new combined heat and power system will be 26 percent more efficient than the existing system.

News media representatives are welcome to join invited participants Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Mark Templeton, Mayor of Columbia Darwin Hindman, and EPA Region 7 Acting Administrator William Rice at Thursday’s ceremony.

WHAT: Groundbreaking for $62 million 'Energy Efficient' project

WHERE: Columbia Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, 4900 W. Gillespie Bridge Road, Columbia, Missouri

WHEN: 10 a.m. Thursday, January 14, 2010 (A tour of the facility for the news media will take place at 9:40 a.m.)

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on Feb. 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at www.recovery.gov. The Recovery Act seeks in part to spur technological advances in science and health and to invest in environmental protection and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits.