After 64 years, the city’s water treatment plant on Bell Street is about to begin construction for its multi-million dollar upgrade.
The new construction was approved by the city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the winning bid by W&O Construction came in at $15,626,000. An agreement for a “Value Engineering” redesign from James C. Hailey & Company added $175K to the project. This was funded by $6 million in loan funding, $7,515,822.31 in grant funding and $3,005,177.69 from the water department’s reserves. Some of the funding is reimbursable through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s ARP program.
In the contract with the construction company, the build is anticipated to be complete within 600 days of beginning. Construction officially begins on April 14, making the prospective date of completion to be no later than December 6, 2026.
“This building was built in 1961 — it’s 64 years old. Back in the day, they did chemicals out of it and it’s not a good idea to have your chemicals in the same building where you’re treating water,” Water Department Director Ricky Morton said. “The building is not work-safe. While there were minor additions or adjustments over the years, nothing has been done for the plant itself or the state of its controls. The inside hasn’t been upgraded all this time.”
Included in the new build, which will be placed behind the current treatment plant, will be a two-story building containing five new filters, controls, office space complete with bathrooms and kitchen, pipe gallery and state-of-the-art treatment equipment. Current controls for the facility are manual and the fresh build will include computerized ones, though there will be manual back-up controls in the event they are needed to operate the plant.
Morton indicated there may be some interruptions in service during the construction process, but he hopes to keep them to a minimum by working with the contractor to coordinate operations as needed.
“The new settlers we will be using are particularly exciting because they’re more forgiving than the ones we use currently,” Morton said. “They are supposed to allow us to use less chemicals when treating water and is overall a better process. Right now, we are limited in the space we have in the current building.”
The water treatment plant has the ability to pump five million gallons of water a day and keeps seven gallons in storage, numbers which are not expected to shift or be diminished with the new build. According to Morton, the plant processes about 1.4 to 3.04 million gallons on the average day, providing plenty of room for growth and demand.
Morton noted anything which could be salvaged as scrap or reused from the current build would be sold or recycled, helping offset some of the cost where reasonable, such as a metal roof which can be saved to place over the department’s shop.
“We have to be diligent about the service we’re providing and getting people good-quality water,” Morton said. “It’s going to be a lot of work and headaches at times, but I look forward to this because the City of McMinnville needs this for its customers. That’s what we’re here for — our customers. This facility is going to benefit them for many years, I truly believe that.”
In three of the last four years, McMinnville has placed first in the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD) Region Four Best Tasting Water Competition as a testament to Morton and his crew’s dedication.
A groundbreaking for the new facility is set to take place on April 14 at 9 a.m. Once the build is complete, the old treatment plant is expected to be demolished.
