Sludgegate

[XLFD]

A spin-off of Ludington City Council Meeting January 9, 2017: Firewalls Holding added in order to explain and discuss the sludge problem and whether the city handled the wastewater treatment plant problems responsibly and wisely.

 

"In a memorandum from the city manager found on page 10 of the December 19 packet, he declared "The upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant include desludging the lagoons for the first time in 40 years".

I have no experience with wastewater but I have talked with others that were shocked by this admission, wondering why there wasn't big problems arising from the long-term negligence of the lagoons, even before John Shay arrived.  I have found that the industrial standard for mechanically desludging lagoons is about once every ten years, perhaps more often if no other method of handling sludge accumulations is used.

A leader in the field says on their website:  "Excess lagoon sludge can lead to higher effluent levels of BOD, TSS, and ammonia along with some terrible lagoon odors."  Does that sound totally familiar to what has troubled the treatment plant over the last few years, and especially this last spring? 

Perhaps had our city leaders developed a plan to mechanically desludge the lagoons back in 2011 when state agencies had enough of a problem with ammonia levels and other problems to deny the city a discharge permit for their treatment plant, the city would not have been forced to divert their ouflow pipe and go without a renewed permit for five years. 

                                                                                        Screenshot of DEQ website August 2015

Perhaps had the city had a program of periodically desludging their lagoons over the years, we would not have a problem today looking to cost the Ludington taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, when they could have spent a small fraction of that on doing this routine maintenance.

If our expensive purchase of upgrades does not have some way to combat sludge buildup, will we have a policy that will deal with its necessary maintenance ?  I surely hope we do.  Thank you."

Here are some relevant facts about the Ludington WWTP from the plant supervisor in 2015:

The Ludington Wastewater Treatment Plant began operation in April 1975. Sewage is pumped through a 20”diameter pipe into the first of two aerated lagoons, which cover 31 acres and hold 90 million gallons for biological treatment. Sewage is pumped from the second lagoon into the plant’s two (2) up flow clarifiers for phosphorus and solids removal using ferric chloride as a flocculation agent. Chlorine gas is used to disinfect the final effluent before being discharged to the Pere Marquette River. Sludge that has been precipitated in the clarifiers is pumped directly to a sludge storage lagoon. The plant currently operates one eight hour shift, seven days a week.

The WWTP has had problems over the last few years and has experienced difficulty in meeting some of its discharge limits, namely ammonia‐N and toxicity. While for the vast majority of the year the plant treated the wastewater sufficiently, the historic problems with these two pollutants persisted in spite of renewed efforts to mitigate the problem.  The WWTP was issued a new NPDES permit on October 1, 2015 which was dependent on the proposed millions of dollars of upgrades being performed, reducing these rates, and involving several other conditions. 

After doing further research, I determined that not only was John Shay wrong, but also that I was wrong.  I must divulge that the reason that I was wrong was because I took the word of John Shay on a memorandum to the council as true without verifying the same.  This can be a difficult task to show at times because even when he is not the FOIA Coordinator, as he hasn't been for the last three years since his firing retirement by the council for that simple duty, he still controls the flow of information.  The truth of the matter came from the minutes of a city council meeting almost one decade exactly before John Shay moved to Ludington to assume his job.  From the

April 12 1993 Ludington CC minutes:

This resolution was approved unanimously by the city council and desludging operations appears to have happened later that year.  This actually suggests that when John Shay took office in early 2003, the WWTP was due for sludge removal, particularly since there is nothing on record before or since that shows any sort of non-mechanical sludge maintenance program is in place. 

This sludge removal will be taking place fifteen years past when it should have been, and it is being done only because the DEQ is mandating the action.  Even then, he was kicking and screaming, as noted in a Special meeting of the LCC on August 18, 2015:  "The City has hired Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber and Fred Cowles to assist on the technical issue of renewing the permits and retained a law firm to assist the City on the legal aspects to fight the DEQ."

The City of Ludington retained a law firm to FIGHT the DEQ?!  When did the city council grant the city corporate money to hire a law firm to fight a state agency trying to keep the people safe from a tainted environment?  Only the city council has the power to do that, and they must do so at a meeting open to the public preferably with all the cards on the table for the public to properly evaluate the decision. 

This special meeting also had Shay estimating the cost of the upgrades strictly at the WWTP to be $10,500,000.  In 1993, desludging and the comprehensive installation of new aerators and blowers after 18 years of operation were perceived to cost a half a million dollars.  If we look at an inflation calculator to estimate what such costs would tally today, it would still be under one million dollars at $835,000. 

What would explain the nearly ten million dollar difference between the expected cost based on the 1993 evaluation and this 2015 evaluation figured out by a city manager with not only a variety of ethical issues and lapses, but a history of making outlandish maintenance purchases when none is called for (Watertowergate), and no competitive bidding is ever performed?   Isn't it odd that if you do the main tasks at the WWTP of comprehensive sludge removal and equipment replacement, you still have a Shay-estimated tab that is twelve times that amount now?  

[Willy]

Excellent job of reporting X. Not only do you explain the problems and causes but who exactly should be held responsible. This kind of reporting should be in every news outlet Ludington has to offer so the citizens can understand what is going on. Unfortunately this kind of information only sees the light of day on the Ludington Torch. People will never read or hear about this type of reporting in the newspapers, on the radio nor even at City Council meetings. Only here, can people find the truth. This is another example of a lazy and ignorant City Council being led around by their noses by a City Mismanager who has managed [the only management he has done right] to make fools of Ludingtons elected Councilors.

[XLFD]

Thanks, Willy.  One would think the unaccounted for use of nearly $10 million dollars (nearly double the cost of the city's annual budget) to desludge and update the WWTP should make more citizens and officials hue and cry, especially when the city manager fibs about the history of the plant, and there have been 5-6 years of secretive legal finagling by unelected city officials with state agencies to bypass environmental protections.  And especially given the history of John Shay with environmental problems elsewhere in Ludington.

[jfc123]

What ever happened to accountability? Why are the questions we raised to not only the city but also the state not being responded to? There is a lot that needs to be explained here! 2008, Snyder, Schuette, Shay and council, does this not need to be cleaned up even though Fema provided funds....... So many issues for Pure Ludington! I hope one day soon it truly is Pure Ludington!

[stump]

Can't you see that the estimate is that high so the citizens won't be surprised  when the bid is given out to a outsider who will give a few million kickback money to the Shyster . It's like we don't have any contractors with the equipment. But the sludge removal is what they do call a shit job.

[XLFD]

The methods, secrecy and deceit, behind so many of these public projects should give anybody in the Ludington area reason to believe somebody is making out big time.  The rigged bidding we've seen over the years will continue, and some people will make out big from all this-- but not us, we're the payers here, having our poo-poo water cost us twice as much in five years. 

Living out in the country, like our water and wastewater supervisors, is perhaps a sign that they prefer wells and septic tanks over our municipal system. 

[shinblind]

Coincidence that the cost to de-sludge a WWTP lagoon is about the same amount that drained out of the water/sewer fund by having the water tower repainted prematurely?

Also do not forget that a majority of the improvements to the Water Treatment Plant are to insure the supply of water to Michigan Power. The State only required upgrades in the amount of  2 million dollars without Michigan Power, not the 6-8 million that will be spent.

I have a real problem when local taxpayers have to subsidize private enterprises.  

[AQUAMAN]

Point well taken by all, esp. shinblind's last statements. That "lagoon" was never referred to as such in my lifetime until recently. It's the PM Bayou!!! Also, why do Lud. citizens need to pay 4 times more for the Michigan Power Plant to succeed? I too have a real problem with that scenario, and most around town probably don't even know now. Willy, you should take this to CL over on FB to see whom else is privy to that info..

[Brad]

X and Torchees... relevant to Lud..?
http://www.wzzm13.com/mb/news/local/michigan/michigan-group-calls-o...

[XLFD]

Looks interesting.  Here's the website for the activist group, would you or someone else be able to do some more research and report back, I may not be able to get to it in a timely manner?

[Brad]

Sorry, I most likely won't be able to research it further either at this point. Can someone?