City of Lincoln offers tour of newly refurbished Water Testing Laboratory at the waste treatment plant

 

[November 07, 2022] 

On Saturday, October 29th an open house was held at the newly refurbished water testing laboratory at the city of Lincoln Waste Treat Plant. The laboratory building is the original structure built in 1936. On the outside the building remains much the same as it was the day it opened. But inside, the building has been completely redone with many new fixtures, reassigned spaces and an updated water testing lab.

The refurbishment of the building is just one portion of the complete overhaul job at the waste treatment plant as mandated by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The city of Lincoln owns the waste treatment facility and is solely responsible for the costs incurred for the upgrades. The treatment facility is managed by a team employed by Veolia North America. While Veolia is a large company that works in the waste management business in many communities, some of the people working there are local to Lincoln and Logan County.

Andrew Bowns is the project manager at the treatment plant. He is no stranger to Lincoln, being the son of Cince Bown and grandson of the late Buzz Busby who was an alderman for the city of Lincoln for many years. In the water testing area, Sam Bailey is doing a lot of the testing. Still an employee of Veolia, he is a Mount Pulaski native.

In 2011 Lincoln Daily News was given a complete tour of the facility which was at that time managed by American Water with Bob Tackett as the project manager for the company. Having the opportunity to view and photograph components of the laboratory helped to show the differences between today and 11 years ago, before the project was started.

Among the biggest and best difference is the actual lab within the building.



In 2011, the laboratory was small and cramped. At the 2022 tour, Bowns pointed out that with the reconfiguring of the floor plan inside the lab building, the testing lab was relocated. In 2011 and prior, the testing room occupied the space that is now the men’s bathroom.
 

The new testing room is larger and laid out for a more streamline movement from one test to another, utilizing new equipment under climate-controlled situations. Bowns explained that previously the entire building was cooled by window unit air conditioning. The new building has a central heating and cooling system, making it easier to maintain proper temperatures in the testing area.

The front entry room of the lab is also refreshed. When visiting the lab in 2011 the front area was filled with miscellaneous items including a break area, electrical connections and storage lockers. In the new remodel that front area is mostly an employee area with a cabinetry and counter space, plenty of storage and access to the men and women’s restrooms. The one thing that remains much the same as the original is the ceiling.



In that room in 2011 the wood ceiling was fully exposed but covered with paint. As the work in the laboratory building ensued, the ceilings were stripped of the paint and the original wood was exposed and found to be in good condition. The city council was then approached about keeping the ceiling as is for its historical significance and the attractiveness of it.

The room today with its nice clean finishes has that wood beam ceiling exposed and it does add to the attractiveness of the overall room.

On Saturday, there was a small group gathered at the waste treatment plant to take the tour. City Aldermen and City Clerk Kevin and Peggy Bateman had gone through the building and were outside enjoying the warm day and chatting with former alderman Ron Keller.

Inside the building, Alderwoman Wanda Lee Rohlfs was taking the tour, and hearing from Bown and Bailey about the work conducted in the testing lab.

Bowns spoke about the improvements on the climate control with the new central heating and cooling while Bailey shared details about the testing he does in the lab on a regular basis.



After hearing about the new lab and the equipment that resides there, the group moved out to the back area of the building. Joining the tour was Mayor Tracy Welch with wife Annette and Treasurer Chuck Conzo. In the back of the building much of the original structure has been preserved. Bowns explained the purpose of the back section and noted that previously the area had a trench in the middle that ran through the building as part of the treatment and testing process. That area has been filled in and the room is used primarily for storage now.

As the tour was winding down, Welch shared his opinion on the work that has been done at the waste treatment plant in general and the lab specifically, “We took the approach on everything out here that if we were going to do it, let’s do it right. So, we invested and borrowed more money on a lot of things because we wanted to leave it for 20 or 30 years for the next people. As you know, our administration has cleaned up a lot of 20-year-old messes.”

The final attraction in the building is found as one prepares to exit. A plaque hangs on the wall giving credit to those who have been instrumental in the process from Mayor Welch to Conzo, Peggy Batman, the sitting aldermen at the time when critical decisions were made, the city department heads who were involved, the architectural firm for the project, and the general contractors.

The laboratory building is just one of the many improvements that have been made at the waste treatment plant. For the most part the improvements are structural components of waste treatment, functional and up to date but not particularly beautiful. The laboratory building is the exception. Looking at the structure from the outside, the historical significance remains intact while the interior is fresh, new, modern, and more accommodating to the work that must be done inside.

[Nila Smith]