Murray city leaders will break ground Thursday on a $61 million wastewater treatment plant expansion.
Upgrades at the Bee Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant will cause city water and wastewater bills to double over the next three years, but Mayor Jack Rose says the expansion is necessary to bring the plant up to Environmental Protection Agency and Kentucky Division of Water standards.
“It’s going to be a new system," Rose said. "Also, I think a key element in all of this is that we will be prepared for growth in this community for probably a few decades.”
Rose said there was a time earlier this year when the 30-year-old facility was operating on only one of three influent water pumps. He says the other two pumps have since been repaired.
The expansion will require three summer building periods, according to Rose.
“That’s the reason we were rushing to try to get started because we were already under a limited timeframe with the EPA and with the Division of Water in Kentucky," Rose said. "We got both of those extended some, so we will finish now about the end of 2018.”
Rose will speak at Thursday's 11 a.m. groundbreaking ceremony, along with former mayor and state Rep. Melvin Henley, Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce president Aaron Dail and public works committee chair Butch Seargent.
