For those who are outside of Concordia reading, Everton Energy LLC announced they plan to construct a 110 million gallon ethanol production facility on the east side of Concordia. Land options have been signed while the company does its water investigation.
Water is a key element in the success of this proposed project. As a result, we asked Everton to hire one of the state’s premier water geologists to assist them in locating additional water resources for the project. Everton hired Bob Vincent, owner of Ground Water Associates of Wichita, Kansas. At the present time (12/18/06) they are drilling test wells along Plum Road, south and east of Concordia. These test drillings will generate information about the water formations around Concordia and will be provided back to the City, County, Division of Water Resources (DWR) and the Kansas Geodetic Survey.
The plant will have a requirement for three utility services from the City.
- Potable water
- Waste water effluent
- Sanitary Sewer
The potable water is for the product processing, clean-up, and domestic use in the office and the plant. The non-potable water will be used for boiler circulation. The daily requirement will be 900,000 GPD (Gallons Per Day) and as engineering proceeds, the manufacture expects to design around a smaller consumptive amount. So, how much smaller? I can truly say, I don’t know.
Everton will be more concerned about that than the City will be. Everton’s objective is to find and provide the water they need above and beyond the current City resources. Those water resources will be given over to the City to manage and sell back to Everton.
Those familiar with Concordia recognize one of our water resources is the Republican River. The City has water rights in the Republican River basin and due to drought conditions the Division of Water Resources has restricted our water consumption from the Republican River basin. Fortunately, we have water resources in two other water formations. They are the Oak Creek Alluvium and the Dakota Aquifer.
Everton is spending their efforts in finding resources in the Dakota Aquifer. This is very good since DWR is not allowing any new uses from the Republican River basin. What DWR is particularly happy about is the effect of water production and discharge will be a net gain from what we currently draw and what we will be returning to the Republican River.
Lest we get excited about the quality of the water going to the river, it will be the same water we are discharging now. What I know of the water use plan is this. The potable water used in processing is a closed loop. Process water is totally used in the production of ethanol and not discharged. When the corn is introduced to the cooking process it is added to a brew. Water is added to get the mixture at a certain moisture level and cooked. Water loss comes from two points in the process. It evaporates as steam and it goes out the plant as Dried Distillers Grain (DDG). The drying process brings back water to the process side and is reused. The biology of the return solution is important because it contains the materials that help break down the corn for the next process. So, there is no discharge of process water.
Effluent water from the City’s waste water treatment plant will be used for operating the boiler and the cooling system. These sources will be discharged from the plant back to Oak Creek and the Republican River so they can replenish those aquifers. Water from the Dakota formation will end up in the Republican River in greater quantities than the City currently draws. There is a Win-Win.
The other Win-Win for Everton and the City is, as I mentioned above, the water rights. Once Everton finds and perfects the water resources, they will give the water rights to the City of Concordia. Another DWR point of concern is that they prefer that a unit of local government be the water provider to the plant. With Everton providing the water rights to the City, they will not be in the water business. This gives DWR another point of comfort.
The last point to cover today is what the City gets from this relationship. I have urged the Commission and CloudCorp to consider when we provide either water or sewer service outside the city limits, we would have as part of our development agreement provisions for annexation. Our agreements thus far include willingness to annex the project in exchange for providing utility service to the plant. This is significant to the future of City tax policy. The current property will be added as commercial value and not as agriculture as it currently is valued. I haven’t tried doing a cost/benefit study yet but I see a general picture looking positive. Again, Everton finding and supplying the water resources to the City, the City selling that water (and effluent water) to Everton and property tax gains on the project’s Assessed Value.
As we wait for the results of the water investigation, we see the possibility of benefits to both Everton and the City of Concordia.
1 comment:
I certainly hope that it is Everton Energy's intent to pay the land owners for the opportunity to perfect the water right on their land. Otherwise, I certainly hope that the folks are smart enough not to give away the valuable water right property they have. The local people that took the risk of ownership in purchasing the land should be rewarded for that risk if the water is found on their land. Water rights in the Concordia area are worth $1,500 per acre of land owned at a bare minimum.
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