1. The original project budget was $18.6 million, as shown on the sign in front of the new plant. However, the project budget was increased to $19.2 million when water reuse capability was added to the project scope. We didn’t incur the cost to change the sign, but this was approved by Council and has been consistently reported at Council meetings as the project progressed. The ability to reuse the treated water is important for future growth, as our discharge is limited to a finite number of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorous per year. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was very supportive of adding this capability and it was a contributing factor in raising our grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, aka Federal Stimulus) from $4.5 million to $6.1 million. The project should come in about $300,000 below the revised budget after accounting for all contract change orders.

2. The Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) is not part of the stimulus program as reported in the above article. WQIF is a state program to provide grants to partially fund the cost of removing nutrients from discharges to the Chesapeake Bay. It is financed by Virginia bonds not Federal money. As consistently reported at Council meetings, the Federal ARRA money (stimulus) was provided through the Virginia Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund as a “principal forgiveness” loan.

3. The answer is not “E”. The new plant was built for two reasons. First, nutrient discharge limits were imposed by state law as part of the effort to clean up the Bay. Second, the existing plant needed to be replaced. By the time the new plant came on line it had been in operation for 29 years, the approximate limit of service life for a steel tank “package plant”. The Town would have had to build a new plant whether government grants were available or not. The Town was indeed fortunate to be able to work cooperatively with the DEQ and the Virginia Resources Authority to secure both grants and a zero interest loan to fund the project.

Mr. Panek’s comment #1 above states that “the project budget was increased to $19.2 million when water reuse capability was added to the project scope.” A reader might infer from that statement that the budget increase from $18.6 million to $19.2 million was due wholly to adding water reuse capability. For anyone interested in the nuts and bolts, here is a memo from Mr. Panek to Town Council summarizing the change orders adding $600,000 to the cost: http://capecharleswave.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Panek-memo.pdf. The memo cites a cost of $177,000 “to enable effluent reuse.” The Wave stands by its statement that the final cost of the sewer project was higher than originally budgeted. –EDITOR