7.3. SR 02-06-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~` - REQUEST FOR ACTION .~.,~ _Rive TO ITEM NUMBER Ma or and Ci Council 7.3 AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY General Business Febru 6, 2012 ustin Femrite, Ci En ' eex ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED B)/ Overview of the Wastewater Treatment Facility and Gary Leirmoe, Chief Operator; Matt Authorization to Solicit Proposals to Prepare Facility Planning Stevens, Lead O erator Documents REVIEWED BY Cal Portner, Ci Administrator ACTION REQUESTED Authorization to solicit proposals fox professional services for the preparation of facility planning documents for Wastewater Treatment Facility improvements. BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION The City of Elk River Wastewater Treatment Facility (~X/WTF) is permitted to discharge water and bio- solids through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The water effluent stream currently leaves the facility and discharges directly to the Mississippi River. Our bio-solids stream is currently stored on-site then hauled and spread on the city-owned fields north of the Youth Athletic Complex. Discharge Permit Overview Our existing discharge permit was issued in December 2007 and is set to expire in December 2012. Gary Leirmoe and his staff have been preparing to complete the application for a new permit, which is due in June 2012. The MPCA has indicated our new permit will have tighter limits on the amount of phosphorus, mercury, and total suspended solids (TSS) that will be allowed to leave our facility in the effluent water stream. Our facility is currently meeting all limits of the existing permit, but the changes in the new permit will require modifications to our treatment process to achieve compliance with the new limits. Anticipating these new limits, Foth Infrastructure & Environmental, LLC was hired in 2011 to complete a full review of the processes and performance of the WWTF. 'T'his review was conducted to better understand what upgrades, or changes in the operations, would be required to meet the limits of a new discharge permit. Foth's review of the facility included all treatment processes starting with the headwork building all the way through the discharge to the Mississippi River. Foth recommended both operational and construction related modifications to comply with the proposed permit limits. We have been working with Great River Energy and the MPCA to complete an effluent reuse project that would direct all of our treated effluent water to Great River Energy for cooling of the burners at their power plant. While this is a standalone project, it has implications on our discharge permit and needs to be considered and studied as part of the facility planning process. Water Effluent Overview Figure No. 1 identifies the existing path that the water stream takes through the WWTF. Recommended additions to the existing treatment processes are shown in Figure No. 2. These include the addition of a third primary clarifier and an activated sludge process. These recommended additions will enhance the P ®• E ~ f ~ 8 ~ A~`U~'