Tighter state requirements and a change in wastewater discharge is forcing changes at Litchfield’s wastewater treatment plant.
Paul Stafford of the city’s engineering firm, Bolton and Menk, updated Litchfield City Council last week on progress toward needed improvements in the city’s wastewater treatment system.
The city is pushing capacity limits at its current site, primarily because of the large amount of wastewater generated at First District Association, which is the city’s largest wastewater generator. As FDA continues to expand, even greater capacity will be needed.
The city also expects to experience higher usage in its residential and business sectors. New screens, anaerobic digesters, hydraulic components and HVAC and electrical upgrades are needed, plus other equipment, Stafford said.
Due to significant differences in the type of wastewater discharged by FDA and by typical residential/commercial users, Stafford explained, effluent from the two sources needs to be separated and treated in different ways. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is also setting more stringent standards.
There is also potential for FDA to generate a useful byproduct, methane, from its effluent. Another consideration discussed is how “forever chemicals,” also known as PFAs, will soon be monitored by the MPCA within municipal effluent.
All of these factors call for more separation of the two sources of effluent at the treatment site. Stafford said he’s working closely with FDA, and also with state agencies, to apply for low-interest wastewater treatment loans and grants, “point source” treatment grants, and a state bonding bill allocation, to help upgrade the city’s effluent operations.
Although the exact cost of all these improvements has yet to be determined, preliminary figures shared by Stafford estimated costs in the range of $15-$18 million for the city’s portion. The separate First District Association treatments, which Stafford thought might cost about $5 million, would be mostly funded by FDA. However, costs could be significantly reduced if Litchfield accesses some or all of the alternative funding sources. The upgrades will likely require some level of general rate increase within the next three years.
In preparation for this work, the council passed a resolution to apply for state Public Financing Authority funds and to participate in voluntary MPCA testing, to determine if the city is, in fact, producing any of this chemical. City officials decided that it would be less costly to have its effluent tested now by the state instead of waiting until it becomes a mandatory addition to their city-paid testing regimen.
Stafford said MPCA approval on the city’s application is pending, but progressing. He estimated that construction would likely begin in 2024.
In other utility-related matters, the council learned that the city’s electric utility has retained its “A” bond rating and that its proposed water treatment upgrades can be funded within its operations budget, without an immediate increase in water rates.
