Projects

The Shawnee Municipal Authority (Authority) located in Pottawatomie County serves 11,120 sewer customers and 12,130 water customers. According to the 2010 U.S Census the population was 29,857.

The Authority’s current treatment process in the North WWTP is extended aeration, and at the South WWTP is a trickling filter. The design average daily flow at the North WWTP is 33.8 MGD and at the South WWTP is 33.8 MGD, and the receiving waterbody for both is North Canadian River, which is listed on the 303(d) list for enterococcus, turbidity, and fish bioassessments.

Due to age and condition of existing processes at the South WWTP, the Authority has been in violation of discharge permit limits. To correct the issues, the Authority was approved for a loan on September 19, 2019 for $37,920,000 for upgrades and modifications to the existing headworks, secondary treatment processes, and sludge handling of the North WWTP and to decommission and reroute flow from the South WWTP to the North WWTP.

After the loan closed the Authority decided to change the scope of the project and hire a new engineer. The new estimate required an additional $12,000,000 in loan funds. Therefore, they requested a second loan for the project. In combination with the original loan, the funds will be used to construct a Southside lift station and a new SBR treatment plant at the Northside facility. As a result of this project, the south side discharge location will be removed, and treatment of the effluent will be discharged into the North Canadian River from the north location.

This loan was approved on December 15, 2020 and the Authority then sought additional funding to sponsor a nonpoint source wetlands project which will act as a sedimentation basin to prevent sediment loading to Wes Watkins Reservoir. This project was OWRB's first project approved in the pilot Sponsorship Program and received an interest rate discount in an amount sufficient to cover the sponsored project.

This will enable the Authority to more effectively treat the wastewater. Furthermore, the wetland sedimentation basin project will prevent a nominal amount of sediment to the Wes Watkins Reservoir, which serves as a drinking water source for the community.