A $460,000 Industrial Infrastructure Grant administered under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program has been approved and the permit authorizing construction of the facility is expected to be issued early next year, according to officials. A six-month construction timetable is projected for the project, which means if construction starts in February as anticipated, the plant should be completed by next fall. The sewage treatment facility will have a 30,000 gallons-per-day (GPD) capacity, officials said. Officials from DACA, the St. Charles Public Water Service District, Lewis-Bade Inc., and the Boonslick Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) met with Warren County commissioners last Thursday to review project progress. Funding from the grant also may enable the city to increase its water storage facilities and provide for a new well at some point in 2009. But getting the treatment facility up and operating is the primary focus at this point. "We want to make sure we move the sewer project ahead now," said Steve Etcher, BRPC executive director. "Whatever is left is money we can eventually throw toward the water improvements." "We want the sewer district in there as soon as possible," agreed Warren County Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage. "We need that treatment plant." The new treatment plant coincides with a $1.5 million facility expansion program at DACA Machine which is ongoing. The facility is located at 7970 State Highway 94. When plans for the treatment plant were first announced a little more than a year ago, DACA had about 60 employees. The company, which manufactures parts for airplanes such as engines and wings, now has more than 90 employees and continues to grow. "I'm feeling a lot more confident about this (treatment plant expansion) project and our company expansion now," Phil Pecaut, who co-owns DACA with his wife Norma, said after last week's meeting. "We're just going to continue to expand and grow and we want to stay in Dutzow." The treatment plant will primarily benefit DACA Machine & Tool by expanding its sewage treatment capabilities. But a number of Dutzow residents, who are on septic systems, would also be able to tap into the plant. Dutzow has an estimated 150 connections now, both residential and commercial. "We're at the point where we are needing to add capacity," said Bart Korman, an engineer with the Warrenton-based Lewis-Bade. The sewage treatment facility will be a package plant, a mechanical operation not requiring a membrane system like the one used by the nearby city of Marthasville. "It will enable us to expand our sewer line and improve the quality of the effluent we discharge," said Pecaut. Pecaut said the building addition for the DACA plant has not yet been ordered. He expects to place the order early next year. "I was waiting to see what the outcome of the (treatment) plant was going to be," he said. Pecaut is also donating property he owns adjacent to the DACA plant to allow the treatment plant facility to move ahead. He will provide a quit claim deed to the county until the treatment plant is completed. Then ownership of the property will be given to the St. Charles Public Water Service District, which will operate the facility.