The Town of Nashville was recently awarded a $2 million grant from the state to improve longstanding wastewater issues that were first identified over a year ago.

Nashville was one of 23 recipients in the state to receive funds from the Indiana Finance Authority. The funds were awarded to finance wastewater, drinking water and stormwater projects that will either protect or improve public health or water quality.

The proposed work to be funded partially with the grant money will fix problems at the town’s wastewater treatment plant, which prompted the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to step in the fall of 2019.

The estimated total cost for the projects is about $6 million. The town will combine grant funds with a $3.9 million loan that has a 0 percent interest rate from the State Revolving Fund as well as pledged American Rescue Plan money from the town council to cover the entire project, Nashville municipal adviser Dax Norton said.

Accepting the loan will likely increase the rates for town utility customers, but the town council will be the ultimate authority on the rate once it’s time to increase. The utility rates will pay for the loan, Norton said.

The loan process had already been started with SRF when the Utility Service Board found out about the grant. Norton said now they just need to let SRF know that they want to take out the loan, too.

The IFA received almost 500 applications statewide with grant requests totaling to more than $700 million in assistance. The IFA is able to fund over $100 million in project costs, including more than $50 million dollars in grant funding from the State Revolving Fund loan program.

The IFA awarded grant funds through the new State Water Infrastructure Fund program.

Utility Service Board President Roger Kelso was in favor of taking out the loan to finish the project along with grant funds due to the uncertainty of future interest rates and inflation.

“There’s going to be a tremendous amount of work going on, statewide and nationally. Inflation’s going to go nuts,” he said.

“Consultants are going to be busy and frankly there aren’t that many environmental engineers compared to the 70s. It’s going to be a little bit crazy. My point is, the quicker we can get some of this done, the better off we are.”

Utility service board member Bob Willsey said it’s all a “perfect opportunity,” with an awarded grant and the opportunity for a 0-percent interest rate on a loan.

“I don’t want to be the guy that comes in three years from now and says ‘Hey, three years ago they had $2 million, a 0 percent interest rate loan and chose only to do the $2 million and not do what needs to be done for the future,’” he said.

“I think we need to take all these tools and build a new structure for this thing right now.”

The preliminary engineering report that was submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by town council and M.S. Consultants was for the purpose of submitting a revolving loan request for the entire project. The board then spoke to SRF about possible grant money and SWIF was soon developed. The town then received the $2 million grant.

Norton said at the Utility Service Board meeting in September that the town is “blessed” to receive the grant.

In conversations with SRF, they essentially told the board that the loan would be available to them at 0 percent interest rate at either a term of 20 or 30 years.

The funds will pay for sludge system work at the plant; new pipe in areas throughout the collection system where needed; manhole work; a new lift station at Salt Creek Plaza to take on the new sewage; modifications to the Parkview lift station; increasing the size of pipe already in the system to accommodate the higher flow; and sewer lining to solve infiltration and inflow problems.

IDEM notified Town Council President Jane Gore on Oct. 3 of 2020 that it had reason to believe that the town wastewater treatment plant had violated environmental rules.

After studies were done at the plant, IDEM reported the treatment plant had overflowed in February of 2019. It also reported that the town was in violation of disposing waste treatment in a manner where it was able to enter a waterway and that the town’s salt stockpile for roads had washed into Salt Creek after flooding.

IDEM also reported that the town did not have an “ongoing preventative maintenance program.”

The town was cited for not having enough staff working at the treatment plant to “ensure compliance with conditions of the permit,” IDEM told the town council in 2020.

One of the biggest concerns Water/Sewer Operator Robin Willey has dealt with is what’s known as “I and I” or “I/I” — infiltration/inflow of water that is not wastewater into the wastewater system.

This often comes in through cracks in the clay tile pipes that feed sewage into the treatment plant all over town.

When it has not been raining a lot, those cracks also allow sewage to go the opposite direction, or seeping out through the pipes or manholes into the ground, Willey said. He believes that many of them are the original pipes installed more than 40 years ago. Some manholes have been coated more recently with a sealant and bolted down to try to prevent infiltration.

“The I/I problem being taken care of would probably lighten the load of IDEM being on our back. A lot,” Willey said at the September 2021 Utility Service Board meeting.

“That was their first major thing, it’s what they always ask us.”

State park?

The projects to be funded with the grant and loan are separate from a water and sewer project the town has been discussing with the Brown County State Park and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources since last year.

The state park’s only source of water is from Ogle Lake, which is treated.

The DNR plans to stop using the lake as a water source and wants a more reliable provider through the town. In June 2019, the state park had to be closed for almost a week when flooding caused too much sediment to wash into the lake, making it impossible to treat and use for drinking water.

Bids for the state park water project will likely happen in January or February, Norton said at the board’s September meeting.

Bids for the sanitary sewer projects will be taken in February or March. No official announcement has been made about how this project will be funded.

“The project is a-go, just not as a-go as quickly as we thought,” Norton said.

Construction is expected to last the entirety of 2022.

Bringing the state park and the town into a “regionalization” partnership will enable the town’s utility systems to be more financially stable long-term, Norton said in December.

It is possible that town wastewater customers’ rates may also have to go up a little to help pay back any project loans for the state park project, but Kelso said he does not want it to come off like the state park connection is causing that increase though.

The rough estimate mentioned at the May utility service board meeting was $3, but they will know final costs soon.

The town had to do this work on its wastewater plant anyway in order to get into state compliance with IDEM and the DNR is kicking in an estimated $1.4 million, Kelso said.

“We’re just piggy-backing (the two projects) to get the best rate to do some things overall for the entire system,” Kelso said.

The utility services board is planning to have a discussion with DNR and their consultants at their regular meeting on Oct. 27.