Elected officials celebrate Gallatin’s water plant

Senator Roy Blunt visited the Gallatin Water Treatment Facility on May 4. The water plant received funding through Blunt-backed U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant and loan programs.

“We had a robust conversation on the vital role water treatment plays in economic development,” Senator Blunt said. “The Gallatin Water Treatment Facility is a terrific example of a local/federal partnership that will ensure a reliable, affordable, and clean drinking water supply for the future.”

According to Gallatin City Administrator Lance Rains, the discussion also included the need of federal grant dollars from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and USDA RD to help fund projects like the water plant.  “The discussion also went into the 2020 Census and how small communities like Gallatin are subject to the same “algorithm” usage when coming up with census data,” said Rains. “The current system uses one household per 300 households in the formula. That affects the percentages in grant/loan projects because those dollars are related to the median household income. In my experience in the past I’ve seen the low to moderate rating be as far off as 40%. That affects the eligibility of cities like Gallatin to get grant funds. That is why the City of Gallatin will have to send out surveys in the future so we can prove our eligibility to the state for grant money for projects to improve streets, replace water lines, replace sewer lines, and/or demolition projects just to name some possibilities.”

Here is a history of the Gallatin Water Plant Project:

The City of Gallatin’s old water treatment plant was originally built in the early 1970s and then updated and expanded in 1993. The original design was an iron removal plant with a capacity of 250 gallons per minute (gpm). During the 1980s the water treatment plant was converted to a lime softening plant after the new well field was constructed east of Gallatin in the Muddy Creek alluvium.

The water quality located at the then new wells went from being heavy in iron to source considered “hard.” During the 1993 remodel the water treatment plant was converted back to an iron removal plant and continued to be an iron removal plant, with some lime removal involved until the plant’s use was discontinued. It should also be noted that the old plant could only produce 280 gpm or 403,200 gallons per day in a 24-hour a day production rate.

Gallatin began working on the water treatment plant replacement in 2008, hiring an engineering firm to begin the process of evaluating the need and capacity of a new plant.  Then in 2011, Green Hills Regional Planning Commission created a Community Development Block Grant application for $500,000 to match $3,296,000 in USDA RD loan funds and $819,490 in USDA RD grant funds.

The City of Gallatin also pledged $3,000 in labor for an estimated total project cost of $4,618,490. The project was supposed to consist of the construction of a 500 gpm lime softening water treatment plant, the construction of a 200,000 ground storage tank clear well, rehabilitation of the current 300,000 gallon clear well, construction of a new pump house, well field improvements, construction of lime sludge lagoons, and installation of a SCADA system for monitoring.

The project construction contract was signed on July 27, 2016, with David E. Ross as the successful bidder. The final contract consisted of the construction of a 400 gpm water treatment plant, lab, two backwash basins, a complete pump house, a new clear well, a new lime sludge storage basin, installation of solids contact clarifiers, installation of recarbonation equipment, installation of gravity filtration equipment, and the installation of high service pumps and a backwash pump.

The final funding for the project consisted of $500,000 of CDBG Grant funding, $3,296,000 for the original USDA RD Loan, a USDA RD Grant of $819,490, an additional loan that Gallatin took out for $259,763, an additional loan to USDA RD for $604,000, and In-kind labor from Gallatin of $15,604. The final cost of the project was $5,494,857.

GALLATIN WATER PLANT PROJECT

5/4/19

Budget

Original Budget:                     Final Budget:

FUNDING PACKAGE:

CDBG GRANT FUNDING                          $500,000                                 $500,000

USDA RD LOAN                                          $3,296,000                              $3,296,000

USDA RD GRANT                                       $819,490                                 $819,490

IN-KIND                                                        $3,000                                     $15,604

USDA RD LOAN                                                                                          $604,000

GALLATIN LOAN                                                                                       $259,763

TOTAL                                                           $4,618,490                              $5,494,857