A plan has been developed with a goal to upgrade the City of South Lyon’s water treatment plant.

The Capital Improvement Plan, which was developed with the assistance of consulting engineer firm Hubbell, Roth & Clark (HRC), was presented to City Council Monday night. The plant was built in 1965 and the last time large scale upgrades were undertaken was part of its expansion in 2001. In developing a plan for plant improvements, HRC broke the CIP into two phases.

The first phase details recommendations including increasing storage capacity by installing a new, 600,000-gallon water storage tank on the parking lot west of the plant, and conducting horizontal pressure filter maintenance. The plan also speaks to work for the Induced Draft Aerators, or IDAs.

HRC is recommending a unit that was previously abandoned be replaced and that a schedule be set for regular inspections for all IDAs. HRC says a recommendation they made in 2015 for the plant’s Existing Above Ground Storage Tank remains valid, but now has increased urgency. HRC says both short-term external and long-term internal repairs are needed.

Project Manager Jesse VanDeCreek says the estimated cost to complete Phase 1 is about $4.3 million. HRC has also recommended that the City pass a resolution formally adopting the CIP and adopt budgets over the upcoming fiscal years to complete the four elements identified in Phase 1. The City was not required to and did not act on the issue at Monday’s meeting.