HUMBOLDT — With their backs against the wall, Humboldt Council members voted Monday evening to pursue costly renovations to their wastewater treatment plant.
“We’ve kicked the can down the road for 10 years. I wish we had 10 more, but we don’t,” said Cole Herder, city administrator, adding a decision must be made before the end of the month as to how to proceed in order to make the deadline for the next cycle of federal and state funding.
The least expensive options were in the $3 million to $4 million range. Constructing a new plant within the facility’s current footprint would be about $6.5 million.
Built in 1966, the plant’s aging equipment is inadequate to treat today’s nitrogen and phosphorous regulations and in times of heavy rains, exceeds the limit recommended to adequately treat the volume of wastewater, according to a report by engineers with AECOM, a global engineering firm.
With charts in hand, Herder guided Council members through the most recent four years of water flowing into the sewer plant.
“In May of 2022, there was a 500,000 gallons per day average flow,” he said. “We have an allowed flow rate of 250,000 gallons per day,” he said, or .25 million gallons. Last year, the city’s average flow rate was .245 million gallons.
“We are right at our limit,” he said. “They’d like to see us at least 80 percent (of that limit) or below that.”
“If things aren’t resolved, we’ll be in violation of state and federal health guidelines,” which, Herder said, he expects to only get more stringent. The plant’s current capacity also limits any “significant growth” for future industries or housing, he said.
“We’ve asked engineers to also include provisions to increase the capacity of the plant so we can address both of these issues at the same time,” Herder said, adding that being able to treat 300,000 gallons a day would be ideal.
Council members considered several options, including doing nothing and running up against state and federal regulators; updating the plant’s ability to more effectively remove chemical nutrients; or building a new wastewater treatment plant within the current footprint.
Herder said that creating sewage lagoons, such as in Iola, requires more land “than we have available.”
Residential sump pumps and roof drains that lead directly to the city’s sewer system also pose an unnecessary burden on the city’s sewage system, Herder said, by requiring it to treat otherwise clean water.
Roger Vincent, superintendent at the water treatment plant, noted a single sump pump can discharge up to 3,000 gallons an hour into the city’s system.
Though homeowners are required to direct the discharge into city streets or their yards, it’s difficult to enforce, Herder said.
From here, the city will request a preliminary engineering report that allows them to apply for funding through the State Revolving Fund to “determine whether we would be a candidate for funding,” Herder said.
PAYING for the project, which could be in the neighborhood of $250,000-$300,000 a year over 20 years, won’t come easy, Herder said.
