La Salle water treatment plant upgrades remain on schedule

City will seek up to $360,000 in loan forgiveness

The La Salle City Hall is located at 745 Second St.

The La Salle City Council moved forward on upgrades to its south wastewater treatment plant.

The plan calls for converting an anaerobic digester and equipment from the 1970s to an aerobic digester, which eliminates methane from the process and makes the process safer.

The city will seek up to $360,000 in loan forgiveness from the Illinois EPA’s program.

In order to stay on schedule with the program, a package will have to be approved by the end of March. Advertisements for bids are expected by Feb. 8 with a bids opening sometime in late March.

If it stays on schedule, the city will likely be making its first payments on the loan in May 2024.

Mayor Jeff Grove asked if anything can be done within the scope of the project, or if an additional project would be explored in the future, for eliminating an odor that surfaces downtown from the wastewater process.

Terry Boyer, an engineer with Donohue and Associates, said there are options that can be explored once the issue is identified.