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City officials in Coos Bay say they will likely need at least $80 million for wastewater treatment over the next 20 to 30 years, and they want to start by building a new plant.

Coos Bay has two wastewater treatment facilities. The proposed one would replace one that exists on the bay.

鈥淚t would be double the size,鈥� said Jennifer Wirsing, the city’s engineering service coordinator. 鈥淲e haven’t necessarily gotten any larger in terms of population as a city, but it’s a matter of inflow and infiltration. 鈥業 and I’ is no stranger to these coastal cities.鈥�

Broad plans for the facility were sent to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for approval. Meanwhile, engineers at will create some preliminary designs.

Project design will cost $2 million to $2.4 million, Wirsing said. Construction would be $20 million to $24 million, she said.

The plan is for the facility to feature sequence batch reactors, Wirsing said, so that wastewater can be treated with ultraviolet light instead of chlorine. Compared to other systems, this one is more efficient, simpler to use and less expensive to operate, she said.

鈥淲hat we’re choosing is not necessarily new technology, but it’s tried and true,鈥� she added.

Maintaining wastewater treatment facilities on the coast is difficult, Wirsing said. 鈥淲e have the elements here,鈥� she said. 鈥淥regon is a harsh climate no matter where you live, but our plant is located right in the bay. Between the rain and the wind 鈥� and even the seagulls and other animals 鈥� we definitely have a very harsh climate over here. We also have the salinity from the salt air.鈥�

The wastewater treatment plant that Coos Bay officials want to replace was built in the 1960s and upgraded in the ’90s.

鈥淭here are parts that date back to the ’50s and ’70s,鈥� Public Works Director Jim Hossley said.

The new plant, scheduled to be completed in 2017, would be a block away.

鈥淲e’ve been working on this since 2007,鈥� City Manager Roger Craddock said. 鈥淚t would be a lot nicer if we were flat and didn’t need all this infrastructure.鈥�

Craddock said this is the most money the city will spend on a single project in the next 20 years. Nonetheless, he added, there are other expenses. Coos Bay also has 27 pump stations that regularly need to be updated.

鈥淲e do about one pump station a year,鈥� Craddock said. 鈥淲e finish one and start to plan for the next. Those can be rather expensive in themselves. They can run up to $1 million.鈥�

The plant will be paid for by local residents. Coos Bay residents have seen their sewer rates go up around 6 percent a year for the last couple of years. They should not expect that to change, Craddock said. Nonetheless, he added, Coos Bay’s sewer rates are lower than those in other communities.

In fact, according to Craddock, city officials had trouble getting grants for the project because sewer rates are so low.

Electricity alone is a major expense, Craddock said.

鈥淚t all has to run whether or not there’s electricity,鈥� he said.