Published: Jan. 29, 2016
Don’t call it ‘dirty’ money
Kewaskum finds savings in sewage
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
KEWASKUM — Ron Endlich, an elderly single man living alone
in a ranch home, wishes he could have a garden. But in order to have one, he
needs water and for now, it’s too expensive for him.
“I have to make sure that my washer is packed to the top
when I do laundry,” he said. “I don’t wash my car like I used to because I
can’t afford it.”
Endlich added he receives about $1,200 per month in social
security.
The Village of Kewaskum is trying to offer relief to
residents like Endlich and Ben Propson is the one leading the effort.
Propson, the lead plant operator at the Waste Water
Treatment Plant, helped cut Kewaskum’s deficit by nearly $100,000 in less than
one year on the job in 2015.
“That is huge savings to us,” Kewaskum Village Board
President Kevin Scheunemann said, adding the deficit was at about $180,000 per
year.
At the Jan. 11 board meeting, the board passed a 3 percent
increase to the sewer user rate.
“I’m not overly excited about it, but our sewer and
utilities has a massive deficit,” Scheunemann said. “With my village
presidency, one of my goals is to fix that deficit.”
Propson may have figured a way to do it. How?
One of the first things he did was lower the energy output
from the plant. He did trial and error with ideas that lingered in his mind as
he learned from former lead plant operator Jim Noren, who retired in August,
for nearly two years.
The results were shocking. And that was good.
Within months, Propson increased energy efficiency by about
50 percent.
For example, in November 2014, the plant spent $7,214 on
76,612 kWh. In November 2015, the plant spent $3,773 on 36,336 kWh. In December
2014, the bill for the plant was $7,891 on 86,858 kWh. In December 2015, the
bill was $4,568 for 47,419 kWh.
Propson also figured out how to reorganize the airblowing
system that pumps oxygen into the storage tanks, which helps treat waste.
Instead of using two blowers, one still reached the desired result.
“I was ecstatic,” he said of the results.
Because the data doesn’t stretch a full calendar year,
Scheunemann estimated more than $35,000 would’ve been saved through these
measures.
Propson also generated $60,000 of revenue by bringing in
waste hauling companies that pump out septic tanks from surrounding
communities. Before that, the plant only treated the village’s sewage.
“Just on his cost savings and revenue enhancement, he
substantially has taken care of a lot of our deficit,” Scheunemann said.
“He took the revenue from $0 to almost $60,000 in one year;
his first year on the job,” he added. “I think Ben is doing a great job. That’s
a tremendous benefit to the rate payers. ... In one year, he’s cured 60 percent
of the deficit.”
Propson has been with the department since October 2013
after working in the West Bend department for 10 years.
While happy in West Bend, he came to the Kewaskum plant for
several reasons. One of the biggest reasons was he’s a Kewaskum native so he
thought it’d be a neat opportunity to help out his hometown.
“I was like, ‘This makes sense,’” Propson said.
Propson credited Noren for helping him get acclimated. As he
learned, Propson’s curiosity grew.
In West Bend, Propson said a lot of the treatment procedures
was by sight and smell. He admitted Kewaskum’s plant is the “Cadillac” of waste
treatment plants. The plant was renovated in 2008.
The upgrade brought state-of-the-art facility operations,
such as computers to help monitor air flow into holding tanks and
energyefficient machines. With the technology at his disposal, he got to test
his theories.
“I wondered if we could try this and we just did it one
day,” Propson said, adding it was done “very gradually.”
The results were immediate and Propson continues to strive
for more efficiency and more money in the village’s pocket. While frustrated
with his bill, Endlich is encouraged an effort is ongoing to fix the problem,
which is the high rates.
“They’re terrible,” Endlich said. “I’m on strictly social
security and this $125$130 every three months is killing me. It keeps me in the
hole all the time.”
Before 2008, Endlich rented the bedrooms of his home to help
with his income. As many as four additional people lived in the house at one
time. At that time, he said his tri-monthly sewer bill was less than $90. But
the people are gone and the cost has risen.
“They knew they had to expand,” Endlich said. “So why didn’t
they go back like 10 years and add $10 a month to each sewer bill so they could
have some kind of a cushion? Instead of all of a sudden they just dropped this
on everyone.”
Propson is working on it. This year, he wants to continue on
this momentum and is confident he can lower the deficit more.
If that happens, Scheunemann believes the deficit will soon
be eliminated to a point of either no increase in 2017 or a reduction.
“He’s bringing in revenue that we didn’t get before and it’s
benefitting the rate payers,” Scheunemann said.
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