South Mill Street from Brothers Drive to Festus Centre Drive (next to Jokerst Memorial Park) is closed while work is underway to eliminate the sewage lagoon near West City Park.
The street was closed Tuesday (Sept. 3) and is expected to reopen Sunday (Sept. 8), City Administrator Greg Camp reported.
City officials are eliminating the lagoon after at least four years of discussions over what to do about it in the face of stricter federal regulations regarding emissions into waterways. The lagoon is near Joachim Creek and its tributaries and was created around 2000.
The lagoon currently serves about 250 homes in the northwest part of Festus, but Camp said potential development could nearly double that number.
The $3.2 million lagoon elimination project was included in the city’s 2019 fiscal year budget, which ends Sept. 30.
Costs included design and management services for the closure of lagoon, as well as building a lift station and pumping sewage from the western side of Festus to the Festus-Crystal City Sewage Treatment Plant on County Road in Crystal City.
The contractor on the project is Above and Below Contracting in Festus.