VALDOSTA, GA (WTXL) -- Seven years after a flood heavily damaged the city's wastewater treatment plant, officials celebrated the opening of a newer, more efficient one Tuesday.
The completed project includes the relocation of the plant to higher ground and the construction of a new force main -- all to keep sewage from leaking into the Withlacoochee River.
City leaders say they're confident the investment will pay off for several years to come.
"With this new facility and with all the work that we've been doing to reduce inflow and infiltration, we have a plant that can serve the community and can do what it needs to do to produce a very high quality effort," said plant superintendent John Waite. "We're very proud of it."
In 2012, FEMA denied the city's request for funding. Mayor John Gayle says he never dreamed that would happen, but says he's grateful the city could work on the project through low-income loans from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA).
"We feel good about the fact that we were able to plan and we were able to bring in the right people to help us," he said. "FEMA's estimate on this project was $90 million, and we ended up doing it for less than 60 [million], so that shows you sometimes what local people can do."
WTXL was there in September 2015, when officials provided a construction tour of the project.
The goal was to have the plant up and running by February, but a wet winter delayed those plans.
The plant is already being called a success. Over the past two rainfalls in Valdosta, no sewage has leaked into the river.
