Umatilla/Eustis Wastewater Hook Up (Almost) Ready

    The City of Umatilla has announced that its new wastewater hookup with the City of Eustis was expected to go active this week. The estimated $7 million project that has featured the construction of a wastewater line from Umatilla’s processing plant on Golden Gem Drive south on SR 19 to the city of Eustis, and will allow Umatilla to abandon its wastewater plant going forward.
   “We are looking to open the sewage flow to Eustis tomorrow afternoon,” said Aaron Mercer of the City of Umatilla on Monday.    However, the system was still not operational on Tuesday night, after ongoing tests showed the much-anticipated event would be pushed back by at least a day.
   The project has faced a series of delays, brought on by COVID 19 and the supply chain problems that followed. Additionally, the cost of the project rose by hundreds of thousands of dollars due to inflationary pressures that have saddled many construction-related projects.
   “We’re not there yet,” said city manager Scott Blankenship on Tuesday night, describing a series of ongoing testing hurdles that must be overcome before the line reaches an operational status. And even then, it is expected the line won’t be at full operation until its high-tech management software is fully installed and functional.
   “We’re at 95%,” Blankenship said, noting that in the early days of operation he expects the system to be supported with 24-hour ‘personal supervision’ by city public works staff to ensure wastewater product is being appropriately handled at the plant.
   In time, the system will be fully automated, and allow city employs to simply provide regular oversight to ensure waste moving through system is pumped into the line to Eustis, or in times of high volume, into a large holding tank at the wastewater facility, where it will sit until lower volume hours allow for it to be released into the Eustis pipe.
   The agreement between the two municipalities will allow Umatilla to abandon its aging wastewater facility, with the town’s wastewater being collected at the Golden Gem Drive plant via the existing wastewater line and pump station system and diverted into the new line rather than being processed as in the past. The processing portion of the plant is expected to me removed.
   “Most of it will be demolished in a few weeks. (It) won’t be too long after we get the flow going,” said Aaron Mercer, the city’s director of development and public services.