STUART — Stuart’s wastewater treatment facility is getting a makeover as part of an ongoing $3 million renovation project.

Assistant Public Works Director Dave Peters says the project, which includes roofing most of the complex and surrounding it with a concrete wall and landscaping, is to make the plant more functional and unobtrusive.

“It’s part of improving the overall appearance of the wastewater plant, which is located directly behind the Martin County Courthouse,” he said. “It has always been our hope to tie into the theme of water reclamation facility versus what people used to refer to as ‘the city’s sewer plant.’”

Slated for completion by year‘s end, the project’s final phase includes the installation of metal structures over the plant’s three digester tanks, chlorine contact basin and other exposed elements by Stuart-based Ocean Gate General Contractors. It will also incorporate a high-tech odor control system of boilers that Peters says should nip any odor complaints in the bud.

“It sucks the air out of the tanks and sends it through a chemical process that removes the odor-causing constituents,” he said. “The air is then filtered before it’s discharged into the atmosphere.”

The treatment plant already has undergone several renovations and expansions since its construction in 1959. The last began in 2003 and concentrated on operational improvements, Peters added, which paved the way for the current work focused more on aesthetics.

The current project was mandated as part of a cooperative agreement between Martin County and the city of Stuart, in which the county agreed to supply the city with 900,000 gallons of potable water daily in exchange for the city’s treatment of the same amount of wastewater coming from the county.

“It was planned for a number of years, but we just had to do certain things first,” Peters said.

In addition to the landscaping, drainage and parking improvements already have been implemented along a portion of Stypmann Boulevard. In the previous phase of the current renovation, an 8-foot-high perimeter wall was erected and painted to match the county courthouse.

Peters said he is very proud of the progress his department is making to ensure the city’s water treatment plant attracts the least attention possible.

“Our biggest compliment is when someone says ‘we didn’t know your wastewater plant was located there,’” he said. “And that is what we hope to continue to do.”

Story By:  By Donald Rodrigue

May 27, 2010 TCPalm.com