Marshfield upgrades up to $10 million in water and sewer improvements

Marshfield is making up to $10 million worth of upgrades to its water and wastewater treatment facility.

Springtime means a lot of rain for the Ozarks, one of the upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility will help stop the overflow of stormwater.

Right now, every time the stormwater collects, it goes into a pipe and discharges into a nearby stream.

Now, the upgrade will completely eliminate this step and the water will have to get treated with an ultraviolet light bulb system to disinfect the wastewater.

The disinfection process currently uses chlorination and plans are in place for it to be replaced with the UV lights.

The city said the new upgrades will allow more flow to go through the plant, making it safer to handle for employees instead of treating it with chlorine and it will be easier to maintain.

"With the wet weather, we face a lot more water coming through our plant with the stormwater along with our normal day to day operations, it just adds capacity to our plant, which is only rated right now for only a certain amount of gallons per minute to go through there," Sam Rost, Marshfield Deputy City Administrator said.

The modifications to the treatment facility will allow the city to push more water at a higher rate through the plant so it doesn't have to hold as much water when it rains.

Rost said the system is becoming an industry standard, other cities already have this upgrade in places like Monett and Lebanon.

"What you'll see here after the improvements this is where the ultraviolet system will be put in place and so instead of having to make new, and have new ground, and demo this site, we worked with our engineers to fit the new technology inside of our existing infrastructure," Rost said.

Marshfield's drinking water upgrades are also included in the $10 million budget.

Right now, the water towers only have one pipe. The upgrade will add a second pipe to the towers which would bring more circulation to the drinking water. The additional pipe would help pull water out while the other would bring water in.

The city also plans to build a new water tower on the northeast side of Marshfield and that will provide is better water quality to the people in that area of town because there is a number of dead-end lines in that area due to the growth.

The additional tower and improvements in drinking water will help future growth plans of the city.

"What that will ultimately do is the water quality because the water going in goes to the top of the water tower tank and the new pipe will pull water from the bottom so it circulates the water better which improves the water quality," John Benson, Marshfield City Administrator, said.

Benson said some people in the city might notice a better taste in their water and it will improve clarity.

"Our customers or users of the water what they may notice it won't be a dramatic change but what some will notice is the taste of the water will improve the clarity of the water will improve to some degree so it's more the taste and the quality of the water," Benson said.

There are also additional projects included in the budget like resealing deep pipes for wastewater, renovating a building where wastewater initially enters and also the method of chlorination for drinking water is also being Improved.