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Wastewater Improvement Upgrade

September 15, 2021

The District has been working towards upgrading the wastewater system.

Morrison Maierle was contracted to do design, and Nittany Grantworks to assist in helping the District get funding.

Project Goals: The project goal is to improve wastewater collection system and centralized wastewater treatment and protect waterbodies from pollution.

Project Objectives: The project objectives are: 1) replace the East and West lift stations, 2) replace two standby generators at the East and West lift stations, 3) install a nitrification reactor in the flow stream between the aerated lagoon and the facultative, 4) replace aged aeration and mixing equipment, and 5) replace the non-functional effluent flow meter with a new ultrasonic level sensor and control panel with logging capabilities as required for DMR reporting.

Project Effectiveness: The treatment system will meet the new ammonia limit (started October 1, 2017) year round. Accurate flow will be calculated using an ultrasonic level sensor and control panel with logging capabilities. The pumps are sized to generally meet sizing of the existing pumps: 1) West Lift Station – 140 gpm at 26 ft. TTDH and 2) East Lift Station – 450 gpm @ 34 ft. TDH. This sizing will meet expected flow rates with full buildout in the District; the District Board intends to not expand the District service area. The generators are sized at 30 kW and 45kW for the West and East Lift Stations respectively. The construction contract requires sludge sampling to determine solids content. However, based on sludge depth measurements and typical solids content, it is estimated that 592,000 gallons of sludge with an 8 percent solids content will be removed. The blow system is designed with three total blowers with two duty blowers and one standby blower. Each blower is of the same rate of 760 scfm @ 6.7 psi. The system
is designed so that any blower can supply either the nitrification reactor or the treatment lagoon aeration system.

The total budget for the upgrade is $2,572,000.00.

The orginal funding package was:

     $500,000.00 TSEP Grant

  $1,335,000.00 USDA Loan

     $478,000.00 USDA Grant

     $259,000.00 District Contribution

With last years Covid pandemic, ARPA was formed.

What is ARPA

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (PUB. L. NO 117-2 SEC 602 (c)(1)(d)) provides state and local aid to make necessary investments in water and sewer infrastructure. The 67th Montana Legislature passed HOUSE BILL 632 which directed the federal funds available under the American Rescue Plan Act for use in Montana. Section 1 – Section 5 address how the federal funds will be distributed to necessary water and sewer infrastructure projects. House Bill 632 created the Infrastructure Advisory Commission who will oversee spending on water and sewer infrastructure projects along with the Governor of Montana.

The District's Grant Administrator had submitted an application for the District to receive ARPA grant funds. If you wish to review the ARPA website, you may visit: Welcome to the State of Montana's ARPA website.

Round 1 Project Application and Award Information

The District was awarded $1,286,000.00 of the ARPA Grant funds.

Therefore, the new funding package should consist of the following:

     $500,000.00 TSEP grant funds

  $1,286,000.00 ARPA grant funds

     $259,000.00 District contribution

     $527,000.00 USDA Loan

At the District Board Meeting held September 14th, 2021, Morrison Maierle stated the District should be able to advertise going to out bid within the next few weeks with construction to start the spring of 2022. It's been a long process, but the District is moving forward and cannot wait to break ground on the upgrade. 

You can follow updates on the Current Projects webpage.