Crossville City Council approved a $50,000 water filtration pilot program during a special call meeting Tuesday to evaluate ceramic membrane technology as a potential solution for the aging infrastructure at the Meadow Park Water Plant.
Water Resources Director Joe Kerley said the pilot project is a mandatory requirement from the state before the city can move forward with any large-scale technology changes. Kerley said the current filtration system is approximately 24 years old and has exceeded its expected service life of 18 to 20 years.
“We bid this out last fall with H2O for $50,000 for the pilot, state requires us at least 45 days of data, this is for two months of data for the state, $30,000 for some consultant fees,” Kerley said. “So once we collect this data from the pilot, then we can work with Wauford.”
Kerley said the department intends to run the 60-day pilot during November and December to test the equipment under the most difficult treatment conditions to reflect cost efficiencies with Wauford. Kerley said cold water is denser and harder to push through pressure filters, providing a “worst-case scenario” for data collection.
“The pilot study’s not just a formality, there could be findings that would influence which you ultimately recommend,” one council member said. “Absolutely, that’s the whole point, that’s why we pilot,” Kerley said.
The city attorney said the pilot program is essential because the current system is nearing a point of failure. Kerley said a single broken tab the size of a nickel previously caused the plant to lose its ability to produce safe drinking water at maximum capacity.
Kerley said the ceramic membranes carry a 20-year warranty and a life expectancy of 30 to 40 years. Kerley said while the projected cost for a full system replacement could range between $15 million and $20 million, the pilot data is necessary to determine the exact number of filter skids required for the city’s future needs.
“We’re going to do it in colder water because this is our hardest time to treat the water, so I want to run the pilot, I don’t want to run in July, we don’t have the issues in July we have in November,” Kerley said. “When we have seasonal issues about three times a year where we have to change process or compensate for stuff, I mean algae in the summer right now we’re combatting.”
The council also authorized the city attorney and city manager to make minor modifications to the pilot contract with H2O Innovations to prevent procedural delays. Kerley said the full transition to a new system, including engineering and bidding, would likely take two to three years to complete.
