Item 7 - Action MWMC Fac. Plan - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

of the 20-Year Project List. A third public open house was advertised and held the evening of March 3, 2004. The commission held a public hearing on adoption of the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20- Year Project List on April 22, 2004, and carried over the hearing to May 6, 2004, to allow time for additional public review and testimony. Except for the original 1977 "208 Plan," MWMC has not until this time updated the formal Facility Plan to be approved by the DEQ. An approved Facilities Plan will incorporate the existing adopted plans (the WWFMP and the Biosolids Management Plan), contain updated technical analyses and projections of flows and loads, provide reasonable assurance of compliance with state and federal regulations and new limitations and requirements in the NPDES permit (see next paragraph), and revise the capital improvement projects to meet the needs for adequate operational facilities. Having a formally approved Facilities Plans will also make MWMC eligible for public loans and grants. As stated, the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan will help to ensure continued compliance with regulatory requirements that govern the quality of effluent discharged from the treatment works as well as conditions for the collection and transmission ofwastewater to the treatment plant. These regulations present legal requirements for the provision ofwastewater services to the community and form the foundation for the design criteria used in formulating the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and associated 20-Year Project List. The DEQ reissued MWMC's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in May 2002, which prompted the commission to pursue a thorough, updated Facilities Plan to include the new ammonia and thermal load limits of the renewed permit, as well as the new requirements to implement a Temperature Management Plan (TMP) and the WWFMP. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis of the treatment plant's processes and hydraulic capacities has led the commission to include an evaluation and recommendation of alternative disinfection systems to mitigate worker safety and community risk concerns in the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan. The treatment plant also currently faces a significant peak flow capacity deficit, which was projected in the earlier WWFMP and has been validated and updated to the year 2025 based on an updated modeling using more recent 2003-04 data. The present facility effort is prompted by the original intergovernmental agreement which specified that when the sewage loading into the treatment plant reached 85% of the initial design capacity, the commission would institute a program to expand and/or upgrade the treatment system beyond the initial design capacity. This trigger point is now being reached for several of the unit process capacities. In the mid-1990s, the regional wastewater treatment facilities were modified to improve their performance, and the commission recognized that the facilities were experiencing capacity limitations relative to original design specifications. As a result, additional expansions would be needed to actualize the projected 2004 design life. In 1996, the commission responded with a directive to produce a master plan to evaluate short-term and long-range improvements necessary to improve facility operations and meet increasing capacity and evolving performance demands. The MWMC Master Plan was completed in 1997. Although it is not as comprehensive as the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan, it did provide analysis of historic flows, pollutant loads, and reporting data to identify capital improvements needed to resolve shortfalls in the capacity for biosolids processing and peak flow management. Later in 1997, the commission adopted the Biosolids Management Plan, which was derived from a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) and engineering evaluation processes. This plan reflects the commission' s adoption of strategy to resolve shortfalls in biosolids processing capacity and is based upon an evaluation of available technologies, cost effectiveness, reliability, and public acceptance. The L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040628\S0406287.doc