A new wastewater treatment plant is being built in Plattsmouth.

PLATSMUT, Nebraska (Nebraska) — As they say, it’s hell or flood… and in 2019, Plattsmouth and many other communities along the Missouri River — hell came with the flood.

“It all started about four years ago, a week after today, so pretty damn accurate,” said Erv Portis, a former city administrator. “But look at the positive… I mean, it’s going to be a real recovery.”

Recovering from the 2019 Heartland flood disaster.

Today in Plattsmouth, waiting at this railroad crossing is easy. Then you need a boat. The sewage treatment plant was flooded – the city’s future was uncertain – until federal, state and local governments came together.

“We are rebuilding better here, so our dollars are going along with state, local dollars to build a wastewater treatment project that will not only help replace aging infrastructure, but really set the stage for this community to grow into the future,” said Andrea Spillars of FEMA.

Erv was then City Administrator of Plattsmouth. He now works in the state and is the driving force behind the groundbreaking of a $70+ million wastewater treatment plant that will propel the city light-years ahead.

“This project is good for Plattsmouth… it gives FEMA and NEMA, we enjoyed working with you and we hope we don’t have to see you again because you are so far away from the flood zone,” Portis said. “This is a true example of success that makes it work by making the rules work for success.”

“It will be the end when this plant is moved here,” Plattsmouth Mayor R. Paul Lambert said. “This is a daunting task, but with the cooperation of the federal government, the state government and local residents, we are all on the right track.”

City administrator Keith Hobson said the cleaning system offers more dynamic processes and is more sustainable, removing chlorine from the final treatment and some natural elements. Most importantly, it removes almost the entire process from the floodplain.

“You have an entire city that flows east down the Missouri River,” Hobson said. “So you collect all the flow there and then we pump it to that place so that we can get out of the flood zone and get to a place where we can adequately process it by removing nutrients and sanitizing it so that we can safely dump it to the stream. right here.

By the time the project is completed, it will be late spring or early summer 2025. There will be some headaches, some building problems between now and then, but the people of Plattsmouth don’t seem to mind.

“Construction is always awkward at times, but you get a new street, new sidewalks, and a great sewer system,” Lambert said. “This plan is for the 60 to 80 years that it will be designed for and the development that will take place, industrial and housing, will take place around it and that is our growth and that is so important to keep our community alive and dynamic. “.

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