Sewer rates will increase an average of $1.58 on residents' utility bills in December to pay for a new sludge treatment facility.

The city must build a treatment facility to remove water content of sludge so it can be processed to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards for disposal. Orem processes about 1,700 dry tons of sludge annually.The city plans to build a belt press dewatering system that squeezes water out of sludge from the sewer treatment plant. Orem plans to have the $4 million facility operating in December 1994.

The facility will be built on city property next to the sewer treatment plant, 950 S. Treatment Plant Rd. (near Powell Slough).

Orem received a $3.5 million loan from the Utah Water Quality Board at 3.5 percent interest to build the new facility. The city will repay the loan over the next 20 years.

The city also will use the first $500,000 raised by the fee increase to pay for construction of the facility. The fee will then be used to repay the water quality board loan.

The base sewer rate will increase from $8.67 to $9.62. The volume charge increases from 36 cents per 1,000 gallons to 40 cents per 1,000 gallons.

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Until Oct. 9, the city disposed of its sludge at the Lindon Landfill, which was closed earlier this year. It has stockpiled sludge near the sewer treatment plant since then.

Public Works Director Richard Manning said the city has not decided on a long-term means of disposing of its sludge, but is looking at processes that would allow it to be used as a compost material. That requires heating the sludge - through the composting process, for example - to kill bacteria.

In the meantime, the Mercur Mine west of Utah Lake has agreed to buy 300 to 400 tons of sludge from Orem City to use as a soil conditioner/fertilizer in a tailings reclamation project, Manning said. Mercur Mine plans to give Orem hay cubes to mix with the sludge in the city's drying beds.

The hay cubes break up and absorb moisture in the sludge and add nitrogen to it. The city will then haul the sludge to the mine site.

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