Summary of Danbury WI Wastewater and Water Projects.
Wastewater Project
The wastewater
project consists of the sanitary sewer collection system and the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).
Collection
System
The sanitary
sewer collection system consists of gravity lines mainly going down the middle of the local streets. The collection system
will be constructed about 10 feet deep and have manholes in the middle of the street. Exception to this placement is when
the collection system is following any State Highway
. In these locations, all pipes will be off the pavement in the ditch area between the pavement and the Right of Way. Service
pipes will extend to the Street Right of Way from which the property owner then connects at their own cost.
There are
also 2 main lift stations (the lift stations will be duplex submersible pumps able to pass 3 inch solids). One is north of
the north crossing (hwy 35/77) of the Yellow River and all wastewater from the entire Danbury
community goes through this lift station and is pumped to the new WWTP. A second lift station is just south of the north crossing
(hwy 35/77) of the Yellow Rive, near Ron Staples’ house. This lift station is necessary to go under the Yellow
River . This forcemain under the Yellow River will be directionally bored and
not open cut. The second lift station will pump all of the flow from property south of the north Yellow River Crossing, but
none of the property north of this crossing.
There are
also 3 grinder stations. One grinder is down by the campgrounds on the southern crossing of the Yellow
River . It will be placed as a small grinder station and in the future, if property south of the Yellow River
ever comes in to the Danbury system, this grinder station
will need to be replaced by a typical lift station. Currently it will pump only wastewater from the intersection of 35 and
77 south to the Yellow River . A second grinder is at the eastern end of Riversmeet Road . It will pump all the wastewater from property on BIA 5 and the property
from BIA 5 east on Riversmeet Road . The third grinder
station is at the properties with 3 residences on the east side of Hwy 35/77, just north of the North crossing of the Yellow River . It will pump wastewater just from these 3 houses.
Any street
cut open will be repaved. All state highway crossings will not be excavated but will be directionally bored. The construction
is estimated to take approximately 2 years.
Cost for
the entire collection system is estimated at approximately $3,400,000. This does not include any service connections or hook-ups.
Funding
for the entire collection system is to be through grants and loans from USDA Rural Development and State of WI special appropriations. This is not set so may change.
A user
ordinance and user charge will be developed. If the water system is installed concurrently, user fees will be based on the
actual water usage. User Fees will be higher for commercial and industrial users. User fees for commercial and industrial
users will be based on flow plus strength of waste. Other criteria will be requiring high flow and/or high strength contributors
to put in a sampler. There will even be a section of the ordinance on pretreatment requirements. For example, because the
Casino has heavy duty strength with articles being flushed, the Tribe will need to install a fine screen and a grease separation
structure. Extensions or new areas being included will be included in the ordinance, with possibly impact/hook-up fees required.
The design
of the Sanitary Sewer Collection System has been approved by the DNR and is ready to be bid.
WWTP
The WWTP
will be located on 60 acres obtained through a trade with the Burnett County Forestry. It is on the north side of Lake 26
Rd, between Hwy 35/77 and Minerva Dam Rd. The driveway
entrance will be from Lake 26 road. It is sized for treating the estimated wastewater for
the next 20 years of growth.
The WWTP
will be located approximately 500 feet in from Lake 26 Rd. A buffer of existing trees will be left to shield the WWTP. Other
then down the driveway, it will not be visible from the road. A chain link fence will be constructed around the buildings
with a gate on the driveway near the buildings. A typical barbed wire fence will be around the seepage cells.
The wastewater
will be pumped to the WWTP from a lift station near Hwy 35/77 and West Reservation
Rd. The forcemain will follow Lake 26 Rd to the new driveway and then into the site.
The treatment
of the wastewater will go through these following steps. The influent or raw wastewater will pass through a fine screen to
remove items larger then ¼ inch. This is usually items people through down sinks, toilets in the form of plastics, metals,
clothing, etc. Then the influent will flow through a grit removal system. This removes grit or sand, inorganics that will
not break down. On a new system such as Danbury , there should
not be a significant amount of grit. The screenings and grit are then hauled by a garbage hauler that the JWQC contracts with
and disposed in a landfill. The fine screening and grit removal are labeled as a pretreatment process. The room that they
are located is classified by the NEC code as a Class 1 Division 1 explosion proof environment. This means that all electronics
in the room are specially constructed and expensive, from the light fixtures to motors. Flow measurement and sampling of the
influent takes place for records required by the DNR.
The influent
then flows into a splitter box and into the ICEAS system. The ICEAS system is a continual flow Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR).
It is an extended aeration/activated sludge process. Two concrete tanks, side by side, will contain the treatment process
mechanisms. These tanks will be in a pole barn type of structure.
There are
fine bubble air diffusers on the bottom of the tanks. For each tank, the flow goes through an initial pre-react portion of
the tank and then into the main portion of the tank. Air is provided for treatment and mixing. An activated sludge system
involves the production of an activated mass of microorganisms that treat the wastewater aerobically. The SBR has cycles it
goes through from being aerated, to letting the biosolids settle, to decanting the tanks after treatment. In the SBR, Biological
Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and nitrogen are removed. The biosolids that settle then are reused in
treating a new batch of wastewater that enters continually to the tank. After a period of time, there will be too much biosolids
in the tank and it will be wasted out of the tank by pumps. This will be discussed later. The treated wastewater that is decanted
from the SBR is now called effluent and the flow is metered and sampled to determine if it meets the treatment requirements.
The effluent is then pumped to one of 3 seepage cells. A seepage cell is an excavation in the ground that looks like a dry
pond bed. The treated effluent flows through the bottom and into the ground water.
Effluent requirements are set by the DNR and the wastewater leaving the SBR and into the seepage
cells meet the requirements. The SBR system will treat the wastewater to a higher
degree then required by the DNR
for the components of BOD and TSS. It is necessary because discharge to groundwater has more stringent nitrogen requirement.
To meet the nitrogen requirements requires certain treatment that then results in better quality effluent then would normally
be required.
Monitor wells extending down into
the groundwater surround the WWTP and are tested quarterly to determine if the groundwater is being affected. There are requirements
or levels of acceptable properties of the groundwater that are compared.
The side stream of biosolids that
are wasted from the SBR goes into an aerobic digester that reduces volatile solids. The aerobic digester is a big tank outside
that has fine bubble diffusers in the bottom of the tank. The biosolids are then pumped into Reed Beds which are located in
4 beds that have a PVC liner on the bottom and concrete walls on the sides. Reed Canary Grass, or phragmites, are grown in
the beds and help dewater the biosolids. The biosolids are stored in these beds from 7 to 10 years. Biosolids are continually
wasted to the reed beds. After the beds become full (7 to 10 years) the biosolids has turned into a Class A biosolids similar
to a soil. The beds need to be emptied. This is usually done by using a bobcat or other mechanical process to remove the accumulated
material. It should be screened to remove any phragmite roots and then can be stored on site, or if positive that no roots
have survived, the material can be used as fertilizer, or hauled to a landfill.
There will be a main office at
the WWTP that consists of an office and a lab. Mechanical activated sludge systems require certain tests to determine how
the process is working.
Certain contaminants can harm
the microorganisms. The user ordinance will govern what can be put into the system. For examples fats, oils, and grease (FOG)
can mess the process up. That is why restaurants will be required to have grease traps and to maintain the grease traps. Also
components like Chlorides cannot be removed by this treatment. The groundwater requirements have a limit on chlorides discharged
through seepage cells which is why the process waste from the St. Croix Chippewa Aquaculture will not be allowed in the system.
The WWTP project is estimated
at approximately $3,900,000. It should take approximately 1 year to build. Funding for the WWTP is anticipated through DNR
Clean Water Fund (CWF) Hardship program which is grants and 0% interest loans.
The design of the WWTP has been
approved by the DNR and is ready to bid.
The Wastewater user fees are set
by the JWQC though the funding agencies will require that rates are adequate to pay back their loans plus the yearly Operation
and Maintenance (O&M) required to run the system.
Water
Projects
The water project consists of
the Wells, Water Tower, and Water Distribution System.
Wells
Test wells were performed on land
owned by Northwest Electric Co (south end of 3rd Ave.
). The land was approximately 40 acres. Original tests found one dry well and one good well. A third test was performed on
another area on the site and a good well was determined. Based on the depth to the water aquifers, it appears that the two
wells are in two different aquifers. Both should good quality that meets the DNR requirements for no treatment other then
chlorination.
There will be two pump houses
and two wells on this site to provide the water for the community.
A water protection district around
the wells will need to be enacted to allow only certain types of disturbance in the district. The main zone is the 40 acre
site, with a less stringent zone extending slightly beyond the property.
Property was purchased from Northwest
Electric and is now owned by the JWQC.
DNR has approved the test well
data. The design of the production wells and well houses have not been submitted to DNR.
The wells will take under one
year to construct.
Water Tower
A Water tower site was found and
purchased at the north end of 2nd Ave.
The design of the water tower
is not complete.
The tower will take under one
year to construct
Water Distribution System
The water distribution system
consists of lines from the proposed wells to service the community. They for the most part parallel the sanitary sewer. There
is a required separation distance of 8 feet between sanitary and water. Fire hydrants are located per regulatory requirements.
Water services extend from the main to the Right of Way line where they terminate in a water stop. The property owner is responsible
for connecting from the Right of Way to their house.
The water distribution system
is designed but not submitted to the DNR.
Funding for the water system is
anticipated to be provided by USDA Rural Development, (RD) with grants and loans. RD anticipates a slightly lower monthly
cost then the Wastewater System. There is still the 2% MHI requirement, but since the funds will be from RD alone without
DNR contribution, they have indicated they may relax the 2% requirement for the water user charges.
The water system will be governed
by the Public Service Commission (PSC). They will require audits and will approve all rates.
The distribution system will take
approximately 2 years to construct.
The total water project (wells,
tower, and distribution) as described above is estimated to cost approximately $5,500,000.
