Fort Madison, IA – The Great River Regional Waste Authority is already preparing for its next expansion.
General Manager Wade Hamm says the authority last built a storage cell in 2007. He says the unit is about 300' x 100' x 200'.
Hamm says the 3-year cell is designed to hold about 170,000 tons of material. He says the GRRWA receives about 55,000 tons of material each year.
Hamm says, at this point, the cell is less than half-full. He says while that is good news for the Great River Regional Waste Authority, it will not slow up the construction of a new cell.
Hamm says the new three-year storage cell will be built in the spring. The project will cost around $1.5-million, though that figure could have been much higher.
Hamm says the contractors laid out the locations of about 12 years worth of storage cells while constructing the 2007 cell. He says a great deal of excavating has already taken place.
In fact, Hamm says dirt is already being removed from a future expansion site, some 15 years into the future.
Hamm says the GRRWA has been setting aside $15,000/month so it can pay for future expansions without borrowing money. The borrowed money would be paid back using tax dollars.