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WEIMAR — Weimar City Council discussed possible solutions to an ongoing sludge buildup problem at the city’s wastewater lagoons during its regular meeting, Thursday, Sept. 10.
The council had planned to discuss the wastewater system with representatives from E3 Entegeral Solutions Inc., but representatives from the company were unable to attend the meeting. Instead, the council heard alternatives Public Works Director Michael Beyette had found.
The lagoons are currently facing an ongoing issue with sludge buildup, causing the lagoon water to rise above legally permitted levels. The council is searching for ways to remove the buildup while keeping costs manageable.
E3 Entegeral Solutions Inc. has offered a relatively cheaper and novel solution through the use of nano bubbles, but the council wants to explore all options before moving forward.
“The traditional way is multiple million dollars, so we’re trying to find solutions that we can manage today,” Public Works Director Michael Beyette said.
One possible solution presented by Beyette came from Magna Flow, which had previously expressed a willingness to handle the lagoons’ sludge problem. However, the scale of the sludge was much larger than the company initially expected.
Following sonar work, Magna Flow estimated the buildup to be between 45,000 and 46,000 cubic yards of sludge.
“I know we talked about a competitive bid around the $5 million range before and that was from Magna Flow,” Beyette said. “The quote they have for $5 million was for 8,320 cubic yards. But inside that, they also put that per cubic yard it would be $300 dollars per cubic yard. So, times that by 46,000 — that alone, without mobilization fees, standard fees, and things that you know — trip charges of that nature — we’re looking at $14 million dollars.”
Beyette also listed a second company he found, GFL, which offered to complete the project for $11 million. GFL, however, does not plan to complete the project based on the amount of sludge removed by the cubic yard. Instead, the company has offered to dry the sludge before transporting it.
While the council continues looking into other possibilities, including E3 Entegeral Solutions Inc., members also discussed whether they could remove only part of the sludge through a contracted service and handle the remainder in-house at a lower cost.
“So, it looks like with Magna Flow it’s a per trailer, so you can do $2,000 worth of (in-organic sludge),” City Attorney Carl Dawson said. “If they did that and — in other words instead of trying to do the entire lagoon, completely full you clean; you did 25% of it... Then you could get in there with the agitators, agitate it out, and air raid out the organic sludge.”
Beyette confirmed that the possibility was something he was looking into.
Ultimately, the council took no direct action on the wastewater project and decided to have Beyette continue researching possible solutions.
The council will continue looking for the most affordable option over the next couple of meetings before committing the multiyear project.
In other council action
The Weimar City Council also passed the 2026-207 Capital Improvement Plan Budget and the 2026-2027 Economic Development Corporation Budget.
“The fiscal policy is on our website, and then the capital improvements budget — that will be posted on our website,” City Manager David Mason said.
