The Elkhart Board of Public Works approved a $150,000 expenditure for a contractor at their meeting this week.
The contractor will finish work needed to get a digester at the wastewater treatment plant back online.
A digester takes solid waste and breaks it down so it can be put into a landfill. Laura Kolo of Elkhart Public Works explains.
“It’s very similar to what happens in your gut, I mean the whole wastewater process is very similar to the human body we take in solids and liquids and we dispose of solid, liquid and gas.”
Kolo says the plant started the service itself but the remainder of the work must be done by the contractor.
“When we lose a digester like that we have to pump it down which involves help from an outside contractor to pump the contents out and they haul it away and properly dispose of it.”
The digester in Elkhart went down shortly after a mystery substance was dumped and made its way into the treatment plant. Kolo says they don’t know if the two incidents are related or if it is a coincidence.
She says the plant has two other digesters that can handle the waste when one is out of service.