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A project is underway in Springfield that’s expected to benefit not only local residents, but those downstream from the city as well. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more…

Wednesday (2/17) was the one year anniversary of the signing by President Obama of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009...and the day that stimulus projects across the country were required to get underway. One of those projects is located here in Springfield: city officials have broken ground on a new disinfection system at the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant. The new ozone disinfection system replaces a similar system that’s been in place since 1983.
The old equipment will be up and running at the plant until the new system is completed in about 2 years. Ed Malter, superintendent of sanitary services for the city of Springfield, explained how the equipment works…

"We're sending pure oxygen thru cylindars there and putting a high electric charge on the pure oxygen, which changes it to ozone."

That ozone, he says, is a really good disinfectant…

"The nice thing about ozone is it produces a real clear effluent, and it produces an effluent that has a lot of dissolved oxygen, which is what you want to see in the stream."

The effluent released from the Southwest Wastewater treatment plant goes into Wilson’s Creek and eventually ends up in Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock Lake.
The new system is expected to be much more energy efficient. Malter estimates it will save the city at least 4 million dollars over the next 20 years and 2 million dollars in maintenance costs.
Carl Brooks, the EPA Region 7 administrator, toured the plant and praised the project’s environmental and economic aspects…

"This project here in Springfield will utilize the kind of energy efficient technologies and innovations that we expect to drive this economic recovery and continue to drive American economic leadership well into the 21st century."

Brooks says the EPA has awarded more than 7 billion dollars in stimulus funds across the country. Missouri received more than 146 million dollars for drinking water and wastewater projects.
Dru Buntin, Deputy Director of DNR, says more than $1.3 billion in applications were received to try to get a share of the money. He says they chose the Springfield project because it’s green and shovel ready.

"Because of Springfield's committment to the environment and pursuing these types of innovative projects, we believe that they're leading the way, that you all are leading the way for the state in this area, and we commend you for that."

The project is utilizing 3 million dollars in grant funding and a $13 million low-interest loan thru ARRA.
According to Ed Malter, the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant is the only such facility in Missouri that uses ozone for disinfection, and there’s only a handful of ozone disinfection systems in the country. He says it’s not economical for a plant to convert to ozone disinfection if it’s not already using pure oxygen, which the Springfield plant has been using since the 70s.

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