Digestion aid: Equipment bid 70% below estimate

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FORT WAYNE -- City officials were surprised – albeit pleasantly – to have bids for a sewage plant digester cleanout come in 70 percent below the engineer’s estimate.

The Board of Public Works opened bids Wednesday for the cleanout of sludge and sediment from one of the Water Pollution Control plant’s six digesters, where bacteria break down the biological material in the sewage.

Officials had estimated the work would cost about $280,000; the highest of the five bids was $261,246. The lowest, by Burch Hydro, was $85,078.

The bids will be examined to ensure they meet the city’s criteria and the winning bidder will likely be decided by the board next week.

Burch Hydro, of Fredericktown, Ohio, specializes in recycling biosolids.

For more on this story, see Thursday’s print edition of The Journal Gazette or visit www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Thursday.

dstockman@jg.net