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Commission studies proposed septage receiving facility in Big Rapids Township; ammonia cited as limiting factor
Summary
A local businessperson proposed a dewatering and septage-receiving facility in Big Rapids Township. City staff told the commission the wastewater plant could potentially accept up to about 40,000 gallons per day under an industrial pretreatment permit but identified ammonia and unknown haulers as key concerns.
The Big Rapids City Commission and staff discussed a proposal from a local businessperson to build a septage receiving and dewatering facility in Big Rapids Township and to send treated liquid effluent to the city's wastewater plant for final treatment.
The discussion matters because the proposed facility would send concentrated septage liquids to the city's treatment plant, which could change the plant's pollutant loading and operating costs. City engineers said ammonia could be the limiting factor for permitting and long-term capacity.
Mayor Frederick Gunther and Commissioner Karen Simmons introduced the item and described the proposal as a private dewatering operation on 18 Mile Road that would screen and chemically treat septic tank waste, separate solids, and route liquid effluent to the township sewer that flows to the city treatment plant. The proposer, identified as Nick Rowley, described the planned process: "essentially, the overall description of what the plant would be is a dewatering facility. So we it would kind of be screened twice...that liquid would be mixed with a polymer agent and then, essentially, finely filtered or pressed so that the liquid separates from the solids." Rowley said the solids would be landfilled or land-applied and the liquid would go to the municipal plant.
Scott, the city's wastewater engineer, described how the plant's capacity is calculated on a pounds-of-pollutant basis and said the staff analysis used projected domestic growth plus potential industrial loadings from the proposed facility. He said the city identified ammonia as "the limiting factor," noting the plant currently does not have a permit limit for ammonia but EGLE has recommended keeping ammonia below about 30 milligrams per liter. "Ammonia is kind of what we feel the limiting factor is," Scott said.
Staff said the city could issue a discharge permit under its industrial pretreatment program (IPP) to specify daily volumes, limits on pounds of ammonia, BOD and total suspended solids and requirements for equalization so large volumes do not arrive all at once. Scott said such a permit could be reviewed and revised annually.
Commissioners and members of the public raised concerns about unknown haulers and the difficulty of assuring every load is only septage; one commissioner recalled a prior incident in which a paint-line discharge (described in the meeting as an acid-related event) required the plant to be temporarily shut down. The commission discussed controls that could be required in a septic receiving plan: manifests from each truck, daily pH monitoring of on-site storage, indoor odor control (carbon filtration) and on-site equalization/storage with alarms.
Several speakers noted layers of government and permitting: the state environmental agency (EGLE) provides permitting and guidance, the city would issue an IPP discharge permit if the township sewer connects to the city plant, and township site-plan and zoning review would also apply. Legal and site approvals would likely require a joint agreement between the city and Big Rapids Township to address sewer flows and liabilities.
No final permit or formal approval was granted at the meeting. Staff was asked to continue technical review and provide recommendations on how much loading the plant could accept and what permit conditions would be necessary to protect plant operations and receiving streams.
