Hermosa installs water treatment plant

After years of dealing with lagoon capacity problems, the Town of Hermosa began installation of a water treatment plant on Nov. 27.
“We have been trying to get this process through for seven years,” Chuck Ferguson, Hermosa’s public works director, said. “It is going to be a huge improvement.”
The growth and development in Hermosa, including an anticipated 100 more homes to be built, are taxing the town’s infrastructure, forcing the town to hustle to keep up with increased demands.
“We’re building a new well, putting up a new tower, and putting in this treatment system. We are also expanding the lagoon cells at the pond,” Ferguson explained.  
For years, the twon was able to land apply from the lagoon onto some agricultural ground in the area and keep up with the town’s needs, but a stop was put to the land application in the last year or two, forcing the town to truck excess sewage to Hot Springs, an expensive ordeal that ultimately cost the town upwards of $150,000.
The lagoon expansion will give the needed capacity to handle the increase from the town, and this water treatment plant will enable the town to treat the water from the lagoon, setting Hermosa up well to be able to handle the expected future development.
The treatment plant was purchased from Apple Springs, an area in Boulder Canyon west of Sturgis, and was disassembled and moved to a prepped location near the lagoon.
“They loaded it on a 40-foot drop deck in Sturgis and brought it down here,” Ferguson explained. “It [will treat] the water that comes out of the lagoon and clarify it so that it can be land applied, or discharged into Battle Creek. We are in the process of getting those permits to be able to do that. It will be quite a boost. We are hoping to have it operational by the end of the year.”