Wastewater from 160,000 residents in the valley is treated at the plant; overhaul is expected to take three years

A unanimous Medford City Council has selected the contractor to lead an up-to-$300-million upgrade of the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The council on April 16 awarded the project to Salem-based Slayden Constructors Inc. to be the general manager and general contractor for the three-year overhaul of the facility.

Wastewater from 160,000 residents in the valley is treated at the plant, located on Kirtland Road next to the Rogue River.

The footprint of the treatment facility will increase by roughly 25% after the upgrades are installed. The plant serves much of the Rogue Valley, except for Ashland.

The upgrades resolve multi-year legal wrangling and a requirement of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to lessen the discharge of phosphorus and nitrogen into the Rogue River, and lower the temperature of the treated water. More stringent year-round limits will be placed on ammonia levels as well.

Currently, the plant doesn’t have the capabilities to meet the more stringent requirements.   

In 2023, the council approved bonds for the project that boost sewer fees from the previous $9.79 per month for a single-family residence to more than $30 over an eight-year year period.

During the initial pre-construction phase, Slayden will receive $2.9 million, and Slayden will ultimately receive 6.5% profit from the project to cover its costs, according to John Vial, Medford Public Works director.

The city will work with Slayden to develop a “guaranteed maximum price” for the plant upgrade, though the city anticipates the amount would be up to $300 million.

Councilor Kevin Keating said, “Exactly what are the benefits environmentally from the $300 million project?”

Vial said the nitrates and phosphorous levels were unacceptable to the DEQ and an environmental group.

The pollutants essentially encourage algae growth, which depletes oxygen levels in the river for fish.

Vial said the city argued that the state restrictions were too excessive, but years of back-and-forth led to the requirement that the water being discharged had to be cleaned up by 2028.

Even a three-year timeline to complete the massive upgrades will be challenging, Vial said.

Tariffs and other issues might push the deadline into the future somewhat, even though the city hopes to get the project done in time, he said.

The DEQ has indicated it would be willing to have discussions with the city if the deadline needs to be changed, Vial said. The city has faced legal challenges and initially balked at the upgrade of the facility because of the high cost and difficulty of removing the phosphorus and nitrogen. In 2018, Northwest Environmental Advocates sued Medford because it claimed the pollutants discharged into the river violated the Clean Water Act. 

The city received a DEQ permit to discharge the treated wastewater into the Rogue in 2021 with the understanding that the city would develop a plan to address the pollutant issues.

The Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility handles 18 million gallons of sewage a day, which undergoes a number of treatment processes before being discharged into the Rogue River.

Vial said the project would double the number of water clarifiers, which remove waste materials from the wastewater.

The aeration basins will be more than doubled and are used for biological processes that render compounds inert.

The Slayden contract was awarded after the city received three proposals for the project.

Eric Mitton, the city attorney, said there was considerable examination of all three contractors’ proposals before deciding on Slayden.

“It’s a more rigorous examination, not just the bottom line dollar,” he said. “This is really as competitive as it could get.”

Vial said the contract with Slayden is complex, numbering 168 pages long.

He said one of the many reasons the city chose Slayden is because it would perform much of the work at the wastewater treatment plant and would rely less on subcontractors.

Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com.