District officials say the 30-acre plant is needed to serve the booming southern third of Salt Lake County. In anticipation of the new facility, the district has already upped monthly sewer premiums by $5.50 and connection fees on all new construction by $1,000.
But the Utah Water Quality Board delayed a decision on the loan Friday - until it could hear from opponents of the largest project it has ever considered.
"This has been controversial, and there are still people who object," said board member Darrell Mensel. 'I'd vote against funding this today, unless I was given the opportunity to hear from someone who objects so we get a more balanced presentation."
The heart of that opposition is Jeff Salt, founder of the environmentally friendly organization Great Salt Lakekeeper. He's threatening lawsuits and calling for an investigation on what he considers a "redundant" project.
Salt said there is excess treatment capacity at current facilities that could handle current and projected demand, and he added that several project details keep changing.
"There's a scandal of epic proportions here that needs to be investigated," Salt charged Friday. "The taxpayers are being misled about the total cost of the project, which we estimate to be well over $300 million when they discuss ongoing maintenance costs."
But sewer officials paint a different picture.
They say they have reached capacity at the current West Jordan facility and the Riverton plant needs to come online as soon as possible to allow continued growth. Construction on the project, once priced at $126.3 million and now estimated to cost $167 million, is expected to begin in 2009, allowing the plant to be up and running by late 2010.
Until then, the district will continue to borrow sewer-treatment capacity from neighboring Sandy and Midvale, which earlier this year helped the district narrowly avoid calling for a moratorium on all new construction by offering their excess capacity.
The sewer district plans to use a pricey membrane bioreactor technology that reduces the plant's footprint and produces an effluent clean enough to pump back into the Jordan River and use as secondary irrigation water.
Project design engineer Ken Spiers said the new 30-acre plant would be built atop 125 acres, and the unused acreage would be reserved as open space as requested by nearby residents.
"This project will provide more open space and fewer impacts than the residential housing that would eventually come," Spiers said Friday. "We've tried to respond to all environmental impacts that might come from the project."
sgehrke@sltrib.com
* The Utah Water Quality Board will reconsider loaning the South Valley Sewer District $22 million at its 10 a.m. meeting on Sept. 14 in Room 101 of Cannon Health Building #2, located at 168 N. 1950 West.
* The South Valley Sewer District serves about 155,000 users in Bluffdale, Riverton, Herriman, Draper, South Jordan, southern parts of Sandy and unincorporated Salt Lake County west of Herriman. Its proposed Riverton facility would initially handle 15 million gallons per day and would eventually double its capacity - likely 15 to 20 years from now.
