WRRF project may be put on hold because of environmental concerns

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

A potential snag in development of the $19 million water resource recovery facility (WRRF) in Charles City will be addressed at a special City Council meeting this Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

City Administrator Steve Diers said environmental concerns that need to be looked at could delay the project that had a completion date set for June of 2022.

The plant was on track to be operational by December of 2021, but that timeline may be altered, according to Diers.

“We’re looking at a temporary stoppage of work,” he said.

The design team of Fox Engineering is working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to pinpoint areas on the site at Shaw Avenue that may need to be looked at more closely.

“It’s a DNR review and they’ve asked us to stop work so they can take a final look at some things,” Diers added. “We’re really trying to find out what all those details are about. They’ve already done environmental work on areas where we’ve started, but there’s other areas that are part of the project that haven’t been signed off on yet.”

The City Council voted unanimously last August to award Portzen Construction the project to replace the city’s 55-year-old wastewater treatment plant. The low bid of $16.95 million from the construction company out of Dubuque came in $575,000 under the city’s estimated cost to build the new activated sludge plant.

Diers said he didn’t know if the review and research that will be conducted will lead to a long-term delay that could add cost to the project.

“We’re planning on maybe up to 90 days (delay) at this point, but we don’t know. We’re hoping it’s shorter. It might be longer. A lot of it boils down to what areas do they need to check and are those areas where work has already been done,” said Diers. “There’s potential added cost, unfortunately.”

Ground was broken last October to build the facility. No workers were seen on the site Tuesday, but bulldozers and other heavy equipment associated with the project remain at the location just down from the Shaw Avenue dump site.

“I know there was some last minute tweaks to the project as far as adding a different, I guess, footprint of the project in addition of what we’re working on right now,” Diers said. “I think those areas are subject to having some further review. … They don’t want us working on the rest of the project until that can be resolved.”

The new facility will help reduce nitrogen and phosphorus from the city’s discharge – two nutrients that have been identified by the Iowa DNR that are required to be reduced under the city’s most recent permit issued in 2014.

Creation of equalization basins, that help with heavy water flows, is also a key component to the project.

Another facet of the proposed undertaking is reed bed installation. The bio-solids left over from treating wastewater creates a sludge that needs to be hauled off from the current site. Once completed, the beds will naturally dewater the sludge and be able to turn it into dry compost material that can more easily be removed.

A resolution was approved earlier by the council for Terracon Consultants to conduct testing on the soil that is being removed at the College Grounds that will be used in the construction of the WRRF.

More than 7,000 cubic yards of dirt is being excavated from the site of Charles City School District’s new athletic complex, and some of that dirt will be used to help build equalization basins and reed beds at the WRRF.

Geotechnical work will also be done at the new site at Shaw Avenue during construction. That engineering service work includes concrete observation and steel inspection.

The total cost for the consulting work is estimated at $114,000.

A pay estimate of approximately $742,000 to Portzen was approved earlier this month by the council. That was the fourth payment the city has made to Portzen thus far.

Outside of this potential setback, Diers said work on the project has gone off without a hitch.

“The project had been moving along great,” he said. “We’ll learn more on Thursday, I guess.”

Diers said he hopes the review isn’t a major setback and work can resume relatively shortly.

“I think the verdict’s still out on that. If they delay this for an extended period of time, that could be problematic for the city and the contractor,” said Diers. “We hope it doesn’t extend for a long period of time.”