ODESSA, Texas — The Bob Derrington Wastewater Treatment Plant has been in need of updates for a while now.
Which is why Odessa Utilities Director Kevin Niles made a presentation to the Odessa City Council during Tuesday's city work session to inform them of his plan to bring updates to the plant.
“We're asking the city council to approve what we talked about, which was issuing a RFQ - request for qualifications - to have a performance service contract company come in and help us do the revitalization of the Bob Derrington Plant," Niles said.
The plant treats all the wastewater and sewage that goes through Odessa. However, the age of the building has led to the techniques it uses to manage the wastewater to become outdated.
"The plant itself is really old, it's outdated and it's dilapidated," Niles said. "Some of the treatment processes that we use are outdated, so it's just time that the city invest some money and time into revitalizing that plan."
A revitalized plant would keep the city up to date on all TCEQ guidelines which, according to Niles, continue to change up their regulations.
The city has already heard from a few companies who are interested in making a deal, making them hopeful they can get the ball rolling very soon.
“The RFQ should go out here within the next couple of days, so hopefully we have some sort of answer and response from several of these performance based contract companies." Niles said. "By the end of July hopefully we can figure something out and every word of project come August or September.”
As for a timeline for when the plant would be fully upgraded, Niles said that it would take some time for it to be completed.
“It will take at least three to five years for us to have a completely up and operational plant that is functional. Right now, we're just kind of limping along with what we have," Niles said. "It's still providing the basic needs of the cities but we definitely need to do what we can to revitalize the plant.”