Working Together on Wastewater
Spicer Group and Saginaw Charter Township Partner Again to Expand Infrastructure
In 1960, a few years before its wastewater treatment plant on West Michigan Avenue was built, Michigan’s Saginaw Charter Township had roughly 15,000 residents. It was an impressive number at the time, with the municipality’s population having tripled in the previous decade, according to U.S. Census data. Today, as the Saginaw Township Wastewater Treatment Plant is amid an expansion, the population of the township has grown to more than 40,000 residents.
Growth within its borders, along with industrial expansion nearby, led to Saginaw Township hiring Spicer Group for its third major project at the plant since the 1990s. The firm’s history goes back to the beginning, with Spicer designing the original plant in 1964. Previous expansions were completed with engineering work from Spicer in 1998 and 2009. Project Manager Jean Inman, PE, is working on the expansion. She also worked on the two previous expansions.
In 2022, Spicer Group was hired to perform a study for Saginaw Township, regarding what is needed and what is possible for this upgrade. Then the Spicer team completed the design of the current expansion, along with providing bidding assistance and construction administration. Inman has been heavily involved, using her decades-long relationship with Saginaw Township to make sure the job is aligned perfectly with their wants and needs.
This specific plant doesn’t treat wastewater for the entirety of the township. The township’s collection system is split into four districts, with the West Michigan Avenue plant providing treatment for two of those districts. Additionally, the plant serves Thomas Township, a nearby municipality where Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) is located. HSC, a large-scale manufacturer, broke ground on an expansion to their headquarters in 2022, leading to increased wastewater treatment needs. As a result, the company is providing part of the funding for the project underway at the Saginaw Township plant.
The bulk of the funding for the $27 million expansion was secured through grant funding from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), which means residents will not see any financial impact from the project. Spicer Group provided the project scope and cost estimates for Saginaw Township to submit when applying for the grant funding.
“This is not being financed by any cost increases,” said Saginaw Township Manager Brian Rombalski. “Nothing is being passed along to our township residents from any of these expenses.”
“I met with them weekly — and sometimes daily — to review every aspect of the expansion,” Inman said. “I would confirm what would work for them. They had heavy input in the whole process.”
The project broke ground in April. It includes expansion of the aeration treatment system, with construction of a third oxidation ditch, improvement and capacity expansion of the sludge handling processes, with construction of a secondary digester, and the conversion of an existing tank to a primary digester.
The project also includes a headworks building, which provides screening and grit removal, two new primary clarifiers, and a sludge pump station. That work will mostly accommodate flows from Thomas Township, where HSC is located.
These upgrades will increase the plant’s treatment capacity by 0.6 million gallons per day (MGD). The facility is currently rated for an average daily flow of 6.5 MGD with a max daily flow of 19.5 MGD. The expanded capacity will increase to an average daily flow of 7.1 MGD, with a max daily flow of 21.3 MGD.
According to Rombalski, the state’s investment in the expansion of the township’s infrastructure signals recognition of the municipality’s upward trajectory.
“This has been a multi-year endeavor that we’ve been very eager and very hopeful to see done,” he said. “It will provide some good upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant to accommodate economic development and growth throughout our region.”
Operations at the plant will continue as usual while general contractor Spence Brothers, based in Saginaw, works on the expansion. Spicer is also providing construction administration services, such as construction staking, on-site inspection, and material testing. Meetings will also continue, so Spicer can make sure the process is working during the entire timeline.
“I truly appreciate the fantastic working relationship that I have with them,” Inman said of township officials. “It makes my job easier to be able to have open conversations about everything, and they’re willing to put the time in. I want to give them what they want.”
Inman is the project manager and main contact for the township, but many other Spicer professionals are involved in a project like this. While the plant is ultimately a wastewater project, Inman explained that nearly all of Spicer’s service lines have been involved.
“Any wastewater treatment plant is a multidiscipline project,” she said. “There are buildings, so it’s architectural. There are tanks, so it’s structural. You have mechanical, HVAC, plumbing, site work, electrical, and controls. Then during the design, you have survey; and at the end, you have construction services. So, it touches almost every discipline within Spicer.”
Rombalski said the township’s decades-long relationship with Spicer, and Inman specifically, has provided stability during years-long, involved projects like the multiple expansions Spicer has designed at the treatment plant.
“We have such a rich, long history working with Spicer Group,” he said. “The reason we continue to partner with Spicer is the fact that you get an engineer — and that engineer designs a plant for you — but that’s not where it stops. That individual is going to be with you throughout the entirety of the process. They can put on multiple different hats to help and assist your community in whatever way possible to get you to that finish line.”