Wastewater director outlines odor mitigation, force‑main repairs and $131M five‑year investment plan

Darren Mearing, director of the City of Dubuque Water and Resource Recovery Center, told the council on April 22 that the facility is addressing odor concerns, repair and reliability issues caused in part by an early‑December explosion that disrupted an anaerobic digester, and a multi‑year capital plan that staff say will total roughly $131 million over five years.

Mearing described the recovery center’s daily mission — treating wastewater, recovering resources and protecting public health — and said the facility treats roughly 6.7 million gallons of wastewater per day and typically removes about 94% of pollutants before discharge. He said the facility’s current design flow is 9.1 million gallons per day and that it is running at about 63% of design capacity (about 6.7 MGD). The facility employs 17.25 full‑time equivalents,…