Apr. 22--Kokomo city officials won a victory of sorts in court last week, when a Texas-based engineering firm paid a $650,000 settlement to end a 2-year-old lawsuit.

The payment, from ACUS Corp., isn't an admission of guilt, but it will help the city cover attorney fees and repairs associated with a $2.1 million wastewater treatment plant project.

Chris Cooper, superintendent of the Kokomo Wastewater Treatment Plant, said the city's troubles began in 2002, when former Mayor Jim Trobaugh's administration contracted with Indiana-based Bowen Engineering for a new filtration system at the Markland Avenue plant.

City officials filed suit in 2007, under former Mayor Matt McKillip, claiming the system was poorly engineered and never performed as promised.

Ashbrook Corp., now known as ACUS, was the manufacturer of the filter system Bowen was to install.

Both Ashbrook and Bowen denied wrongdoing and claimed the city's problems were mainly caused by operator error.

In the end, both sides entered mediation and arrived at a settlement last month. ACUS paid the settlement fee -- and provided new engineering documents -- last week.

City attorney Derek Sublette said Tuesday he expects the settlement will allow the city's wastewater utility staff to fully repair the filtration system.

"We're done with this, and I'm confident that it will work," Sublette said. "We have people out there that know what they're doing, and they'll make it work."

In the simplest terms, the tertiary filter system uses a sand media -- similar in texture to fish tank rock -- to "polish" purified, chlorinated wastewater before it is then dechlorinated and discharged into the Wildcat Creek.

The tertiary filter contains 72 moving bed filters in six grids, with about 1,400 tons of sand media at the bottom.

The city filed suit in July 2007, claiming damages Bowen and Ashbrook.

In all, the city spent about $300,000 in litigation, Sublette said, with all the money coming from sewer user fees (as opposed to tax dollars).

Large pumps use an air lift system to pump sand and water through pipes, which filter out any other solid material that might have made it through the system.

The system was supposed to move 40 million gallons of water a day at peak flow.

City wastewater plant superintendent Chris Cooper said the system was never able to perform at that level and said portions of the system broke down quickly under normal usage.

According to the city's original complaint, "the filters routinely clog and do not perform as represented."

Cooper said the sand media also created holes in the system.

"The city has been required to invest significant resources in maintaining the filters. The filtrate screens plug with such regularity that the system in fact will not regularly take the flow required," the complaint states.

Sublette said the city's wastewater plant has met federal Clean Water Act standards, despite the problems with the filters, but has been forced to expend more manpower maintaining the system than originally hoped.

With the settlement, the city will recoup only a portion of the money spent dealing with the system.

Cooper said he hopes to be able to fix the system -- using the new engineering plans provided by ACUS -- for about $600,000, depending on how much of the work must be contracted out.

In addition, the city has already begun installing a new tertiary filter system, meaning the problematic system will only be used in the future during heavy rainstorms, Cooper said.

The latest tertiary filter is being constructed as part of a $7.3 million stormwater control project approved last year, in response to a federal Clean Water Act mandate.

When completed, the new tertiary filter will handle up to 40 million gallons per day of flow through the wastewater plant. The old tertiary filter will be pressed into service whenever heavy wet weather flows exceed that 40 MGD capacity, Cooper said.

"We'll probably use it around five to 10 times a year," he said.

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