Officials with OMU said things were going well with the Cavin Water Treatment Plant expansion project. According to officials, the $36 million endeavor had only cost around $28 million so far, and that $7.8 million variance to the adjusted budget was noted during Thursday’s utility commission meeting.
The project was set in motion two years ago and will increase water testing from 10 million gallons per day to 30 million. It’s expected to be completed this fall, and is set to be operational by May 2021.
OMU currently treats 28 million gallons of water per day — 18 million at Plant A built in 1905, and 10 million at the Cavin plant built in 1994. The decision to expand Cavin came after OMU noticed settlement issues in Plant A’s infrastructure, as well as two water main breaks that affected parts of the city.
OMU’s Utility Commission approved the issuance of bonds and a two-step rate increase to fund the expansion project in 2018.
OMU Productions and Technical Services Manager Russ Evans said the Cavin Plant expansion is one of four partially completed projects for fiscal year 2020. He said OMU “got aggressive” on billing related to the Cavin expansion project before adding that currently, it was falling under budget by 22%.
