Village of Rib Lake seeks DNR approval for wastewater treatment upgrade
SPOONER, Wis. – (RealEstateRama) — The village of Rib Lake has requested approval from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to upgrade its existing wastewater treatment facility.
The Taylor County village’s treatment facility has historically performed adequately and generally complied with DNR discharge standards. The facility, however, is approximately 50 years old, and needs to be replaced in order to maintain overall system performance reliability over the next 20 years. Also, the village is required to comply with new effluent standards for phosphorus for continued discharge to Sheep Ranch Creek.
The proposed project includes construction of a new compact activated sludge wastewater treatment facility at the existing plant site. It will involve reuse of the existing influent wastewater solids screening and grit removal units, installation of two new wastewater treatment process tanks, a new chemical-feed unit and new filtration unit for phosphorus reduction and a new control building. The existing wastewater treatment tank will be refurbished and reused for temporary storage of the waste sludge solids prior to land application.
The proposed construction will require filling and removal of a portion of the wetlands (approximately 0.23 acres) immediately adjacent to the existing site. The village must obtain regulatory permits for the proposed wetland removal prior to starting any construction in order to minimize the overall impacts.
The estimated construction cost of the project is $5 million. The village intends to seek assistance through the state’s Clean Water Fund program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program to help finance the proposed project.
The impact on residential user charges will be assessed by the village upon further review of the project costs, revenue needs and overall funding options.
This is an equivalent analysis action under Chapter NR 150, Wis. Adm. Code and does not require an environmental review in addition to the facilities plan review. Public comments on the project are welcome and can be directed to Steve Smith at DNR (WQ/3), P.O. Box 7921, Madison, Wis., 53707-7921, or by email at Stephen.smith (at) wisconsin (dot) gov or by calling at 608-266-7580. Comments will be accepted through April 8, 2016.
Contact(s): Steve Smith, DNR wastewater engineer, 608-266-7580, stephen.smith (at) wisconsin (dot) gov; Jennifer Sereno, DNR communications, 608-770-8084, sereno.jennifer (at) gmail (dot) com
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
