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Papillion Creek Wastewater Facility schedules restoration

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PAPILLION, Neb. (KMTV) — The City of Omaha Public Works Department is working to restore sewage treatment at its Papillion facility.

A target date of restoring primary treatment of sewage has been established, which would remove a majority of the solids from the wastewater by April 20. Disinfection of the sewage would be in place by May 1.

These dates are contingent on various activities continuing to occur over the next few weeks.

Levees adjacent to the Papillion Water Resource Recovery Facility (Papio WRRF) along the Papillion Creek and Missouri River over topped on March 15. Floodwaters spilled in and forced the plant to be evacuated.

Portions of the facility were completely underwater, rendering critical infrastructure necessary for wastewater treatment useless.

Access was gained back to the facility as waters slowly receded on March 26th using levees.

By March 29, waters receded enough to allow partial repairs to the main plant road, which was heavily damaged by the flood according to a press release from the City.

The plant remains without electrical service. During restoration, the facility is using 2.3 MW of diesel powered generators to power the plant.

OPPD has been at the location working to restore its electrical equipment.

Currently, the Papio WRRF and multiple other damaged facilities located downstream along the Missouri River continue to discharge untreated or partially treated water into the river.

Omaha continues to work with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to issue any appropriate actions until full secondary treatment at the Papio WWRF is restored.