New $3.9 million facility will double town’s water capacity

PENDLETON — Construction is complete, the pumps are primed and Pendleton water department supervisor Ryan Brashears said the town is almost ready to flip the switch to bring the town’s new water plant online.
The $3.9 million facility — located on about 30 acres at 3437 W. County Road 900S and tentatively is set to start operating in mid- to late- April — will more than double the town’s water capacity, allowing it to serve more users while offering potential for economic growth, town leaders said.
Pendleton’s existing water plant, located at 311 Water Plant Drive, was built in 1970 and has a maximum capacity of about 750,000 gallons per day.

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The new plant has a capacity of producing more than 1.3 million gallons per day, with the ability to expand to twice that much if future needs require it.
Once the new plant is online, any potential for a water shortage in Pendleton will be nullified.
The capacity at the existing plant is limited by the size of the water lines coming from existing wells, Pendleton town manager Tim McClintick said.
In the early 2000s, the town recognized the demand for additional water, especially during the hot and dry seasons. So the town began searching for well fields.
The wells for the new project were drilled in May 2016, and construction on the plant began in April 2017.
The building of the new facility will not cause an increase to local water bills, McClintick said. The funding came through a public water works bond.
“The water treatment plant was funded through a bond issued by the Town of Pendleton redevelopment commission, utilizing funds captured in the Tax Increment Finance District,” he said. “These funds can be utilized for infrastructure projects to serve the TIF area for economic development.”
With updated components and facilities, McClintick said he hopes the new plant will give Pendleton the opportunity to serve more businesses.
“We’re excited and glad we’ll be able to do this,” McClintick said. “We think it will be a big, big benefit to the town in the future.”
Pendleton Town Council President Bob Jones said the plant puts the town in a good spot.
“I see a lot of advantages,” he said, noting the plant will help enable the town to welcome new industry.
“It allows for growth. We’re a business-friendly community,” he said. “We anticipate growth. We must be prepared for growth.”
He said it was good to build the plant now because it could be done without a rate increase for customers, and it allows the town to end a water contract with Citizens South Madison, to whom the town has been paying $8,000 per month for years as a type of insurance against a water shortage.
Brashears said the plant has been tested, drawing water from three wells, treating it and then pumping it to a fire hydrant in Huntzinger Farms neighborhood.
There have been some delays, one caused by a software issue that needed to be fixed so the old and the new plants could work in unison. But it’s expected that in about a month, the town will be able to start pumping water from the wells at the new facility into the miles of pipes that serve the town’s about 1,700 customers.
Both plants will pump water into the system simultaneously and have been set to the same parameters for treatment, so there should be no difference in the treated water, Brashears said.
He said once the new plant is running, the town will dial back usage of the current plant, which normally treats about 500,000 to 600,000 gallons of water per day.