The city’s new utility director gave a report to council on the need to pay for an extra sewer service since multi-year renovation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant is unfinished.
Nathan Prosh said the end processing of sewage leaves sludge, which needs to be removed. Usually it is “dewatered” by a press or centrifuge, with the water taken back to the front of the process and the dry cake taken by farmers to spread on fields.
Prosh said they were trying to avoid the need to outsource it, but it couldn’t during the construction. So, the city is paying a company to bring in a portable press…which totaled $90,000 for about processing 200,000,000 gallons total. Council passed the payment on first reading.
Prosh said they may need to budget it for part of next year, too. But, that’s not the only glitch at the city sewer plant.
He said the contractor needs a major electrical component, but there is a national shortage of the switchboard, causing a 40 week shipping delay. So, the new completion date is pushed back five months to February of 2027.
Prosh has been on the job as utility director for little more than four months, and said he now has a home on the Carlisle hilltop…where the deer entertain his kids by eating up fallen crabapples. Hear him in his own words in the article on the Scioto Post, which includes the video interview.
Kevin Coleman covers local government and culture for the Scioto Post and iHeart Media Southern Ohio. For stories or questions, contact Kevin Coleman or the iHeart Southern Ohio Newsroom.
1 of 2 New City of Chillicothe Utility Director Nathan Prosh.
2 of 2 A snapshot of construction at the Chillicothe Wastewater Treatment Plant on June 4th, 2024.