SPANISH FORK, Utah — About seven million gallons of water go through the Spanish Fork water treatment facility every day.
“The sewer treatment plant is probably one of the most important functions that a city of offers to its residents, and it's probably the least talked about, maybe the least understood,” said Seth Perrins, City Manager.
It was originally built in the 1950s, was reconstructed in the 80s and had some additions made to it in the early 2000s, he said.
“With this plant being so old, it's not capable of meeting new regulations that have come from state and federal government,” said Perrins. “We have to meet those regulations. We don't have a choice as a municipal wastewater facility.”
The city secured an $80 million loan to build a new plant, but recently, they needed to take out a second loan to pay for the construction, he said.
“That is a tremendous saving for our residents, although the plant is expensive to build, and we understand that,” said Perrins. “What we tried to accomplish, and believe we have, is to finance it in such a way that it is as inexpensive as possible.”
The new water treatment plant is being built right next to the old one on the north side of the city just west of I-15. The city believes it will be up and running by July of 2025.
“We're in a difficult situation already, like with the economy,” said Jackie Larson, a Spanish Fork resident. “I think it's just compounding on an already difficult situation. We're doing a lot of improvements on a lot of projects all at once.”
Larson is already paying a lot for sewage, she said.
“Personally, my taxes have gone up about $15 just with sewer since 2021,” said Larson.
Plus, the new plant construction already ‘stinks,’ she said.
“They made these trunk lines larger capacity to take in more people,” said Larson. “As a result, since there's no people out there, we're having issues with noxious gasses coming up through the line.”
Perrins says taking on ‘Smart debt’ is the fairest way to pay for the plant.
“It allows the user to also be the one that pays for it, instead of perhaps somebody that lives here for 10 years and is paying into the system, but if we don't build it until year 20, they move away, they paid for something but never use it,” he said.
The sewer plant will be paid for by user rates, and taxes will not be increased, said Perrins.
