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Council approves intergovernmental agreement for water‑quality trading with Brookfield
Summary
Council approved an IGA to use excess nutrient removal at the Brookfield Wastewater Treatment Plant as credits toward the city's stormwater TMDL obligations; staff said the city owns about 17% of the plant and the stormwater utility will cover incremental costs.
City staff asked the council to approve an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Brookfield Wastewater Treatment Plant to allocate excess nutrient removal as credits under the DNR’s draft TMDLs for the Upper Fox River.
Staff explained that the plant’s treatment removes phosphorus to levels below the river allocations and that the plant’s excess removal can be apportioned to plant owners based on ownership share. "Because Brookfield's wastewater treatment plant has to get down to 0.7," staff said, the plant’s removal provides a trading opportunity that can reduce the amount of stormwater infrastructure the city would otherwise need to build.
Staff noted the city owns roughly 17% of the plant and that the proposed agreement would show up as a credit or a cost on sewer bills; the stormwater utility would pay the difference because the credit predominantly benefits stormwater compliance. After staff’s presentation the council took a voice vote; the meeting transcript records ayes and noes by voice but does not list a roll‑call tally. Staff said it will develop an internal procedure for how the stormwater utility pays the sewer utility for the treatment-related costs.
