Wastewater Treatment Facility

League of Minnesota Cities - 2010 - City of Excellence Awards (under 5,000)

Summary

The Cities of Annandale, Maple Lake, and Howard Lake collaborated with the firm of Bolton & Menk, Inc to integrate their individual, outdated wastewater treatment facilities into a new, shared facility. To build a separate plant for each city would have cost approximately $45 million. Instead, the combined system was constructed for $26 million.

Description

All three communities faced similar problems—existing wastewater treatment facilities were outdated, landlocked, and incapable of achieving stringent new effluent limits. Without a new facility, development was at a standstill and serious constraints were placed on future economic growth.

The firm of Bolton & Menk, Inc. collaborated with the cities to determine that it was practical and cost efficient for the three communities to share a single facility. In addition to the intricacies of designing a system to tie all three municipalities together, the firm spearheaded a project management odyssey that wound through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, a series of spirited community meetings, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and—ultimately—the Minnesota Supreme Court. To build a separate plant for each city would have cost approximately $45 million. Instead, the combined system was constructed for $26 million and, with grant monies received from a number of sources, the total net outlay was just $19.5 million.