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Delhart operations manager reviews recent upgrades, peak flows and PFAS uncertainty
Summary
Delhart Operations General Manager Rob Manema told the Village of Hartland board the wastewater plant completed a 2024 biological phosphorus upgrade, is operating well within average design flows but saw a near-design peak during an August rain event; he cautioned that PFAS or stricter nutrient limits could drive costly future work.
Rob Manema, general manager for Delhart Operations, gave the Village of Hartland board a historical review and status update of the regional wastewater treatment plant that serves Hartland and neighboring municipalities. Manema said the plant completed a biological phosphorus upgrade in July 2024 and emphasized the upgrade’s operating and long-term cost benefits: “we spent 7,000,000” on the upgrade to avoid roughly “half a million dollars a year in chemical costs.”
Manema summarized the plant’s history and capacity: the original plant went online in 1980 with a 2.2 million gallons per day (MGD) design; a major expansion increased design flow to 3.23 MGD in 2005. He told the board current average flows are about 2.0 MGD and the facility’s design percent utilization is in the 60–70% range, but a mid‑August storm produced a single‑day peak of 6,114,000 gallons — close to the plant’s peak‑day design of 6.54 MGD. “We were almost at our peak day design,” Manema said, noting the staff and partner communities had to work extended hours to manage lift stations and flows during that event.
The presentation described recent capital work including disc filters and a move away from chlorination to UV disinfection (2019) and the 2024 reconfiguration of activated sludge basins plus an added fermenter to enhance biological phosphorus removal. Manema reported high removal performance: “we have 99% removal of BOD, TSS, ammonia and phosphorus.” He said influent BOD averages were in the 244–271 mg/L range and influent phosphorus about 5–6 parts per million, versus permit targets well below 0.5 mg/L for effluent phosphorus.
Board members and staff discussed inflow and infiltration (I&I) after the August storm and noted that those extra volumes shift costs to ratepayers. A board member said the budget now includes a line item for additional televising and “spotlighting” work to locate I&I sources. Manema also flagged regulatory uncertainty around PFAS and potential future limits for biosolids: treatment options are limited and disposal of concentrated PFAS could require landfill acceptance, which would be costly. On that topic he said, “if they would actually implement something ... the cost would be astronomical,” and advised a long‑range approach.
Manema closed with planning notes: the plant’s current 20‑year projections appear to fit within existing design capacity, but the commission will continue capital planning, collection‑system analysis, and monitoring of regulatory developments. President Fanner Still thanked Manema for the briefing and asked about his tenure; Manema said he has been at Delhart about two years and worked previously in Beaver Dam for 32 years.
The board did not take formal action during the presentation; members directed staff to continue I&I investigation efforts and to incorporate findings into upcoming budget work.
