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Sewer plant upgrades, chloride limits and a proposed annual sewer-rehab program outlined for Carroll City
Summary
Staff told council the wastewater plant faces nutrient- and chloride-related compliance challenges, outlined a digestion/VLR upgrade and proposed a roughly $500,000-a-year sewer-rehabilitation program using trenchless lining to reduce infiltration.
Carroll City staff told the council the sanitary sewer system and wastewater treatment plant face compliance and aging-infrastructure issues that the FY26 budget seeks to address.
Staff said the city is continuing a copper translator study with the state DNR, and that nutrient-reduction shortfalls at the treatment plant are likely tied to insufficient air to vertical loop reactors; staff said replacement of air piping is included in the larger digestion/VLR project.
On chloride, staff said the city currently exceeds EPA chloride levels and that chloride in wastewater is widespread and primarily attributable to home water softeners. "There is just not any way to take chloride out of wastewater," staff said; consequently, solutions focus on preventing chloride from entering the system (including discussion of central softening) rather than end-of-pipe removal.
For collection-system rehabilitation, staff proposed an annual program to line about 5,000 feet of pipeline and manhole work at roughly $500,000 per year to reduce groundwater infiltration that inflates wet-weather flows. Staff described trenchless lining techniques and said many collection mains are older clay pipe with deteriorated joints. The wastewater treatment plant treats about 1.2 million gallons per day on average, with wet-weather design at 6.1 million gallons and instantaneous peaks over 15 million gallons, staff added.
Staff said the digestion/VLR project has been let and is expected to be under construction with a July 2026 completion date; borrowing of roughly $1.6 million was referenced elsewhere for related work. Council did not take a formal vote; staff will bring financing details and a rehabilitation schedule to future meetings.
