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Up until the mid 1950s Luverne’s raw sewage was pumped directly into the Rock River.
Construction of a municipal wastewater treatment plant in 1956 marked a major shift in sewage and wastewater management, and processes have since been refined in response to environmental protection and improved technologies.
Now Luverne is about to invest $14 million to upgrade and rebuild the 60-year-old wastewater treatment system.
At their June 11 meeting, City Council members awarded the project bid to Gridor Construction, Buffalo, at a price of $14,281,000.
The wastewater plant is basically being rebuilt and will replace major components — some that are original to the 1956 plant.
The work is divided into two major parts.
The first part — to be finished by June 2020, will be primarily utilized by Premium Iowa Pork, which is paying $6.7 million of the $14 million project.
The other part of the project, with an estimated completion by November 2020, is to improve wastewater treatment capacity for the future growth of the community.
“The new wastewater plant will serve the current wastewater needs as well as provide for the future growth of the community for the next 50 years,” City Administrator John Call said.
The new project actually represents the final two stages of wastewater treatment improvements that began two years ago when Luverne invested $338,000 to replace its dissolved air flotation thickener, along with some electrical, pumping and pretreatment improvements.
Costs for the new $14 million project will be financed over the next 30 years for the plant that’s expected to last for the next 50 years.
City finance director Barb Berghorst explained that the bonds to finance the wastewater treatment improvements will be in two issues.
One will be a taxable bond of $6,700,000 for the improvements PIP is paying for.
The company, which will begin processing antibiotic-free pork next summer, already prepaid $3,450,000 and will make annual payments amortized over five years on the remaining taxable bond of $3,250,000 plus issuance costs.
The other bond will be tax exempt for the remaining $7,581,000 plus issuance expense.
Call said the project represents a major investment in city infrastructure, but said it will pay for itself over time.
“This new plant will allow Premium Iowa Pork to do business in Luverne, and they are already retrofitting the old IBP plant at an estimated cost of $30 million,” he said.
“They will add jobs for hundreds of employees for the pork plant process and will add millions of dollars to the tax base of the city.”
Call said Gridor is a reputable construction firm in the world of wastewater and water plants and has constructed plants in cities all over Minnesota and the Midwest, such as Burnsville, Hutchinson, Mankato, Elk River and others.
Construction will begin this summer, and total completion is expected in the fall of 2020.
Existing plant nearly maxed; expansion doubles capacity
When Luverne City Council members approved the plans and specifications for the wastewater treatment plant on May 23, they reviewed reasons why the project was necessary.
The primary reason is that Premium Iowa Pork will require wastewater treatment capacity at more than the city can currently provide.
The current plant capacity was nearly maxed — normal operations were often within 15 percent of the capacity.
The improvements will increase capacity from 1.5 million gallons per day to 2.235 million gallons per day, which is more than enough to accommodate PIP, in addition to future industry.
Another reason for the plant improvement is that Luverne’s NPDES permit was up for its five-year renewal, and MPCA monitoring data revealed a need for enhanced nutrient removal, including phosphorus.
The permit, through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, regulates point sources that discharge pollutants into waters. (See the related story about MPCA specific conductants.)
The wastewater treatment project plans include:
•demolition of the 1950s trickling filter.
•oxidation ditch enhancements (two parallel oxidation ditches.)
•replacing the 1955 anaerobic digester with a new one.
•new electrical building with an emergency generator.
•new chemical storage building.
•new oxidation ditch treatment train.
•increasing sludge storage from 650,000 gallons to 1,050,000 gallons.
•increased monitoring, control and automation of treatment processes.