Construction has begun on Chickasha’s long-awaited new water treatment plant.
A groundbreaking ceremony attended by city officials and many other dignitaries was held May 7 near the existing treatment plant at 500 E.
Delaware.
The new treatment plant will replace one that went into service seven or eight decades ago, Mayor Zach Grayson noted.
A $71,759,090 contract with Wynn Construction Co. of Oklahoma City to build a modern, 6 million gallons per day water treatment plant was executed in early March by the City Council and the Municipal Authority, and construction started in April.
The contract calls for “substantial completion” of the work within 700 days, and “final completion” of the contract in 730 days – two years, in April 2028, Grayson related.
The new WTP is designed to produce 6 million gallons of potable water each day, with the ability to expand production to 8 million gallons per day “as future needs grow,” the mayor said.
Production of 6 mgd “should get you out to the horizon, to about 2060-70,” Jason Cocklin, a professional engineer with Freese and Nichols, told the city council last year.
The city’s existing treatment plant was designed to process 6 million gallons of drinking water daily. Now, though, its “functional capacity” is 4.2 million gallons per day to serve the 17,000 residents of Chickasha and the nearby community of Norge, Cocklin and Clay Herndon, F&N’s project manager on Chickasha’s water plant, told the city council last year.
The existing plant will be demolished after the new treatment plant becomes operational, according to Gary McDaniel, project manager for U.S. Water Services Corp., which has managed/operated Chickasha’s water and wastewater treatment plants for several years.
However, the CMA voted Jan. 5 to issue a “notice of termination for convenience” to U.S. Water Services Corp., to sever the CMA’s water and wastewater systems operations agreement with USW effective June 30, 2026.
The new operations contract was awarded to Wright Water Corp. established in 2005, based in Mustang, and owned by Chickasha native Shawn Wright.
“This project reflects the City’s commitment to making strategic, long-term infrastructure investments that strengthen public health and service for generations to come,” Grayson said during the ceremony.
The groundbreaking was attended by City Council members; City Manager Jim Crosby; City Engineer Scott Vaughn; Wynn Construction Vice President Ricky Thompson and Project Manager Richard Brown; Ron Justice, Ariel LaMontagne and Daniel Anthamatten from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board; Design Engineers Thomas Hughes and Emily Saffell, and Senior Adviser Larry Roach, all from Benham; along with Project Manager Clay Herndon, Design Engineer Sarah Dolan, Construction Managers Brett Calvert and Wendy Martin, Construction Representative Kruse Holliday, and Client Service Leader and former OWRB employee Jennifer Wasinger, all with Freese and Nichols.
Treatment methods vastly improved
Although the new plant will employ “conventional” water treatment methods, technological advancements in water purification surpass what was available when Chickasha’s water treatment plant was built 60 or 70 years ago (the precise age has not been determined).
The new plant will use a multistep treatment process that includes pretreatment, flocculation, sedimentation and filtration.
New elements will include upgraded pumping systems; gravity filters and associated backwash components; chemical storage and feed facilities; a partially buried 800,000-gallon clearwell to receive flows from the filters and to provide a storage reservoir; a transmission pump station and transmission main to convey treated water to the distribution system; an on-site septic system for sanitary waste from the treatment plant; standby power generation; three lagoon cells for holding “residuals” from the treatment process; and a filter/administration building to house gravity filters, office and laboratory space, and electric equipment.
F&N is the design professional and construction manager for Chickasha’s water plant project. The company will be paid $3,950,000 for its engineering scope of services during “construction and commissioning” of the new water plant, records show. F&N will provide a construction manager for the duration of construction.
OWRB OKs $67.66M loan for new plant; city eyes another $6M
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board approved a 30-year, $67,660,000 loan in 2023 to finance Chickasha’s new water plant. Also, “a little over” $5 million in reserves were committed to the project, Crosby said. In addition, the city has been collecting interest on the loan for about three years.
The Municipal Authority applied for a supplemental $6 million loan from the Water Board, to replace the reserves dedicated to the water plant project, “so we’ll have some money to handle any emergencies that may arise,” Crosby explained.
However, a condition of receiving the new OWRB loan is that the city complete its Fiscal Year 2025 audit. “It’s late,” Crosby acknowledged; the audit was due to be submitted to the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office by the end of last year. “We expect to go forward” on the loan “in a couple of months,” Crosby told the Ledger on Sunday.
An amortization schedule provided to the Southwest Ledger by Joe Freeman, nowretired chief of the Water Board’s Financial Assistance Division, shows the interest rate on Chickasha’s $67.66 million loan is 5.20% through 2029; drops a full percentage point to 4.20% from 2040 through 2048; then creeps up to 4.325% through the last payment on Sept. 15, 2053.
The Municipal Authority is current on its debt service payments to the OWRB. For example, the CMA made three payments of $345,507.71 each to the OWRB on Jan. 5 and 20 and on Feb. 16, records reflect. The CMA also made two payments last month: $95,000 in principal plus $248,497.42 in interest on April 20, and an identical $343,497.42 payment April 29.
The estimated total cost of the water plant project is $84 million, which includes the $71.75 million construction contract, $10.86 million in design and engineering fees, $1.31 million in bond costs, and $100,000 in incidental expenses.
Chickasha residents approved a permanent 1.25% sales tax on Aug. 8, 2023, to retire the water plant debt and finance other capital improvements; the levy went into effect Jan. 1, 2024. The 1.25% rate replaced a Capital Improvements Program sales tax of three-fourths of a penny that expired at midnight Dec. 31, 2023.
New treatment plant will be named for the Erwin Family Chickasha’s new water treatment plant will be named after the local family that’s providing the land on which it will be constructed. The Erwin Family Waterworks will be built on three parcels totaling 70 acres west of the city’s aged water treatment plant, Crosby said.
The Chickasha Municipal Authority will lease the land for a maximum of 50 years or until the death of Evie Erwin, “whichever is earlier,” the lease agreement provides. After her passing the land will be gifted to the city, Crosby said.
That provision “honors Ms. Erwin’s promise to her father that she would never sell the land,” he explained.
During her lifetime the CMA will pay the Evie Jo Erwin 2012 Revocable Trust $2,500 per month for the land; that started April 1. The CMA will pay all utility bills and taxes on the acreage for the duration of the lease.
The CMA also will spend up to $40,000 for a memorial in the lobby of the new water plant that will memorialize Ms. Erwin’s family, the agreement stipulates.