Photo by CoCo Walters / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

A view of the current Water Treatment Facility on 759 Highway in St. Joseph, a new project is proposed for the facility to add on an extra ultra-violet treatment tank and pumping station to keep up with industry standards on water cleanliness.

A lack of foresight decades ago caused the current problems in St. Joseph’s sewer system.

Now the city looks to the future to make sure each new project addresses as many needs as possible.

Consider the $2.5 million work order the City Council will review at tonight’s meeting. If the council passes the ordinance in two weeks, the city will pay Black & Veatch to design a disinfection system that will meet recent permit requirements from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The disinfection project technically is unrelated to the city’s combined sewer overflow problem. However, the city plans to install ultraviolet reactors 15 to 16 years from now to treat its overflows.

Instead of paying for another design project later, the city asked Black & Veatch to put the “backbone infrastructure” in place now for the future project.

When the terminology gets confusing, think of it this way: The council has the chance to take the initiative, unlike past councils that passed problems along to future taxpayers.

Andy Clements, assistant director of public works, spelled it out Oct. 5 in a memo to council members.

“Designing and building both elements now will save a substantial amount of money in the future,” Mr. Clements said.

Gravity usually carries sewage to the Missouri River, but the city must use temporary pumps when the river rises to 27 feet. The disinfection process could drive that threshold as low as 22 feet. So instead of spending $9,000 per week on temporary pumps — which would happen more often at the lower threshold — the city has asked Black & Veatch to design a pump station.

Once again, the plans keep the future in mind. The pump station will be designed to handle 108 million gallons of wastewater per day, a dramatic increase over the water protection plant’s capacity of 27 million gallons. The extra capacity will come in handy when the city builds a high-volume treatment plant to address combined sewer overflow issues.

The city must complete the projects by the end of 2013. While the deadline seems distant, Mr. Clements points to the design process that will require cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the BNSF and Union Pacific railroads, along with the likely requirements for land acquisition. Once design is complete, the construction process should last about two years.

“This is the actual first design contract,” Mr. Clements said. “We’re getting toward the end of the planning stage, and this kind of marks the beginning of construction for the (combined sewer overflow) plan.”

Clinton Thomas can be reached

at clintonthomas@npgco.com.