The smell of money:
GWTP operating budget a little over $3M; may end year in deficit

Gallons of water pour out of the Gallup wastewater plant and flow down stream into the Rio Puerco of the West. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Staff Photo

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

GALLUP — Not all of the odors on the west end of Gallup are coming from the wastewater treatment plant, according to Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza. “There have been a lot of comments on the treatment plant, but it’s not as bad as people make it sound.”

Some of the odor is attributable to septic tanks and broken sewer lines in the area, he said. And though the treatment plant does need an expansion, that is not possible at this point.

Referring to comments from wastewater plant superintendents in Hobbs and Clovis who say their facilities have little to no odor, Mendoza said they can’t smell the sewer plants in those areas because they are masked by other odors. “Like in Clovis, they have the stockyards in the east end and that is really a nauseating smell. And then you go farther down and you have the smell from the oil wells. They call that a ‘money smell.’”

“Everybody’s got problems with sewer. Everybody needs more revenue,” he said, but for Gallup, “They’re not going to get any immediate money.”

Gallup Joint Utilities Executive Director Lance Allgood said Gallup Wastewater Treatment Plant’s operating budget has steadily increased at a very small rate over the years to keep pace with operational expenses, which also have increased.

“The current budget year, total operating budget for the wastewater department is $3,052,797. That’s not just for the plant, that’s also the collections budget for maintenance and care of all the sewer collection lines in the city. Out of that, debt service is $1,288,920; minor capital stuff is like $257,000 for equipment, buildings, and vehicles.

“Labor, personnel services cost us like $436,710 for the employees, their insurance, their overtime, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid,” he said. The wastewater department has six to seven employees.

A large portion of the wastewater budget is for power.

“Power consumption at the plant is probably 80 percent of our overall utility costs. That’s like $340,000 out of that overall operating budget,” Allgood said.

Though the budget generally covers operating expenses, he said, “Right now, year-end projections show us a little bit on the deficit side. But we also have some months where we would see some increased usage, so it looks like we’ll be about break-even on the operations and revenues.”

Like Gallup, wastewater treatment plants in Clovis and Hobbs are permitted 5-million-gallons-per-day facilities.

Ramona Frogge of Clovis said the total operating budget for the Clovis Wastewater Treatment Plant is $3,760,015.

Out of that, they budgeted a little over $89,000 this year for equipment repair and $832,711 for the facility’s 17 employees. “Trainees start at $8.17 an hour. Then when they get their Level 1 operator’s license we bring them up to $8.92. Level 4, the entry level on that is $13.25,” she said.

“Capital outlay, I usually put close to $100,000 in and we use that to replace sewer lines that collapse or break. We pretty much use that up every year because some of our lines are terribly old.” She said they are trying to replace all older clay-type collection lines with PVC.

Leo Wilson, superintendent of the Hobbs Wastewater Treatment Plant, said wastewater is just a small part of the Utilities budget.

“We break ours down in segments. We have an operating budget associated with treatment. We have a separate budget associated with solids or sludges, from the point where they’re generated to their ultimate disposal. And then because we do not flow into a river or anything — we reuse 100 percent of our treated effluent waters — we have what’s termed an industrial water budget,” he said.

Salaries for employees are included in the respective operating budgets, Wilson said. “For the wastewater plant there’s 10-1/2 employees. On what we term the biosolids, which is the sludges, we have one full-time position.”

The treatment plant is undergoing a $30.7 million upgrade, which is a capital project and not reflected in the annual operating budget. “That’s through a Clean Water revolving fund loan — a 2 percent loan over 20 years. The plant was commissioned in 1980 and this is the first significant upgrade,” said Tim Woomer, utilities director.

Total budget for the operation amounts to $2.85 million, which includes $500,000 for industrial biosolids, $1.7 million for wastewater and $670,000 for personnel costs, he said. “That doesn’t include any special capital.

Construction of the plant is separate.” Because there is no equipment for the industrial water portion, there is no operating budget included.

Woomer said one of the primary objectives of the upgrade was to control odors. Various areas of the plant that normally were open have been, or are in the process of being enclosed and air under the covers is drawn off and run through a scrubber.

“We had years of complaints from local residents in the community, and this was our solution. Our objective was to eliminate odors emanating from the plant, increase capacity for future growth, and meet changes in regulatory permits.”

To control odors in the collection lines, a chemical is added at various points in the system to reduce hydrogen sulfide and eliminate the associated “rotten egg” smell.

Wilson said they budgeted $180,000 last fiscal year for the chemicals.

Gallup’s Allgood said there has never been a big an odor issue with the city’s distribution system. “On occasion we have used some chemicals or different measures on some of the areas where we have a lot of grease in the system.

But we don’t do any odor control out in the collection system itself. I haven’t seen the need.”

He said he believes GWTP is on the road to improvement.

“Our new assistant superintendent out there, I think he’s been doing a real good job. I think he’s been really proactive, especially compared to the prior folks that were out there. I see a lot more improvements, a lot more hands-on, and a little better attitude.”

Though many of the existing operational staff are trainees, he said, “a couple of the older guys that are out there have stepped up and furthered their education and obtained their advance certification, so I see some positive changes.”

Allgood said it’s difficult to make comparisons with other facilities “because you’re never comparing apples to apples; you’re always comparing apples to oranges. But I think we’re making progress. It’s a long slow process.

Hopefully folks will be patient.”