Sallisaw taps SRF loan for copper-filter design at wastewater plant
Sallisaw, Oklahoma · Meeting date: October 12, 2026 · Published: October 13, 2026
The Southside Municipal Authority has authorised design work for a copper-removal filtration system as it remains under a consent order for copper. The proposed equipment would serve the existing wastewater treatment plant before being moved into a future replacement facility.
Key points
- The authority unanimously approved using part of a $1.4 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan for the filter design.
- The city submitted its engineering report to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality in the week before the October 12 meeting.
- The proposed concept uses cloth filtration in two steel basins, rather than permanent concrete basins, so it can be relocated to the future plant.
- The approval covers design only; the authority said it would need additional funding to construct the system if it proceeds.
Full report
Sallisaw’s Southside Municipal Authority has approved the use of a portion of its $1.4 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan to design a copper-removal filtration system for the city’s current wastewater treatment plant.
The unanimous October 12 decision is part of Sallisaw’s response to a copper compliance issue. The city remains under a consent order for copper and submitted an engineering report to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality in the preceding week, according to the meeting discussion.
The authority described the action as a way to develop a potential treatment solution that can be deployed at the existing plant while also forming part of the city’s longer-term wastewater infrastructure plans. A future wastewater treatment plant will face the same copper requirements, with speakers noting that these requirements will be more stringent than those applying today.
Under the concept outlined to commissioners, the system would use a cloth filter and two large basins. Such basins would ordinarily be built in concrete as fixed components of a treatment facility. Instead, Sallisaw is considering steel basins that could operate at the current plant and later be moved and incorporated into the future facility through replumbing.
The approval does not commit the authority to construction. It authorises the design work and enables the loan funding to be reprogrammed for that purpose, following advice from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund programme and the city’s loan consultants. If the authority selects the filtration route after design, it will need to identify additional funds to build it.
The approach is intended to avoid designing a short-term copper-control asset with no role in the planned replacement plant. By specifying relocatable equipment, the authority is seeking a solution that can address the current consent-order obligations while remaining usable when the new plant enters its construction and changeover phases.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Board of City Commissioners, Sallisaw