Using fish, plants and other organisms – instead of chemicals – to treat sewage is cool technology, but it is no substitute for a $75 million sewer plant that the city needs built by 2011.

A panel appointed by the Lawrence City Commission agreed Wednesday that it needed to remain focused on building a traditional sewer plant rather than investigating the use of “eco machines” that use more natural processes to treat sewage.

The panel came to the conclusion after two leading experts on the technology couldn’t wholeheartedly endorse the idea of using the technology as a substitute for a traditional wastewater plant.

“I’m getting ready to make the most expensive decision I’ve ever even thought about making,” City Commissioner Mike Amyx told a group of experts brought in to speak about the technology. “I need to know whether the technology on an eco machine is to the point that it can handle the 7.5 million gallons of sewage per day that we will need to treat.”

“The very simple answer is no,” said David Austin, vice president of Ecological Design, a company that specializes in building the alternative systems. “When you are talking about using this for thousands of homes, I frankly have no idea how to cope with that from a design perspective.”

Johnathan Todd, another expert brought in to speak about the systems, said he wanted Lawrence to keep an open mind to the technology but said there hasn’t been enough data gathered on the technology to “support the risk” of building such a large alternative system.

Several members of the committee said that made their decision fairly straightforward.

“We’re talking about technology that hasn’t been proven at the size that we need,” said Dr. Terry Riordan, chairman of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission. “I think it is neat technology, but it is getting us off track, and we need to be on track.”

City planners have said the new plant – which would be somewhere along the Wakarusa River – needs to be operational by 2011 to ensure that the city will be able to accommodate new growth. The plant is expected to take several years to design and build.

The panel did not take a vote, but even members who had pushed hard to have the technology explored said that it was apparent that the systems were better suited for small-scale treatment projects.

City Commissioner Mike Rundle – who had advocated for studying the technology – said he was frustrated because he thought the city could figure out ways to make use of the technology if it had more to time to study the issue. But he said that wasn’t a feasible option given the 2011 deadline for a new plant.

Rundle said the community shouldn’t be in such a rushed situation because an expansion of the existing wastewater plant – completed in 2003 – should have bought the community more time.

“I’m very frustrated that we have this gun to our head,” Rundle said. “It is another example of very poor planning.”

The eco machine technology uses a variety of bacteria, plants and organisms to break down and filter raw sewage that is run through a series of tanks or lined lagoons. The benefits of the system include less reliance on chemicals and a reduction in electrical usage.

But Todd said the largest project that he knew of was a 1.2 million gallon system in Maryland that treated waste from a chicken facility.

The panel didn’t rule out using the technology in the future if there were individual projects or developments that were located in an area that would be difficult to serve using the city’s traditional sewer system.