Kokomo hits a $20 million snag

City must remediate contaminated soil at wastewater treatment plant before completing 2021 project

The City of Kokomo set out to make improvements to the wastewater treatment plant last year, but that project quickly came to a screeching halt. The presence of heavily contaminated soil, likely created by operation of the nearby Continental Steel Corp. decades earlier, is creating a costly obstacle which will require years of remediation at a cost of more than $20 million.

On Aug. 29, the Kokomo Common Council approved on first reading an ordinance authorizing the city administration to acquire bonds to cover the cost of this new expense. A public hearing and second reading of the ordinance will take place on Sept. 12.

According to the text of the ordinance, the city discovered the contamination when contractors began excavations to begin constructing improvements to the wastewater treatment plant late last year. It was determined that “the project area required extensive soil remediation work before the Original Project could be continued and completed, including the removal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, importing fill to backfill the excavation void, surface dewatering, and hauling and disposing soils, concrete, rock, and other materials.”