Bettendorf anticipates spending $7 million in fiscal 2013 as its share to expand Davenport's wastewater treatment plant to help end the regular practice of discharging untreated sewage into the Mississippi River.
The city relies on the Davenport facility on South Concord Street for treatment of its sewage and is a 20 percent owner of the treatment plant. When storm water runoff infiltrates into sewer lines during heavy rains, both Bettendorf and Davenport pump millions of gallons of untreated sewage (diluted by rainwater) into the river because the inflow exceeds the current plant treatment capacity. Click here for earlier article on sewage bypass discharges.
Bettendorf anticipates spending $7 million in fiscal 2013 as its share to expand Davenport's wastewater treatment plant to help end the regular practice of discharging untreated sewage into the Mississippi River.
The city relies on the Davenport facility on South Concord Street for treatment of its sewage and is a 20 percent owner of the treatment plant. When storm water runoff infiltrates into sewer lines during heavy rains, both Bettendorf and Davenport pump millions of gallons of untreated sewage (diluted by rainwater) into the river because the inflow exceeds the current plant treatment capacity.
Both Davenport and Bettendorf have been under pressure from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to correct the "infiltration and inflow" of storm water into sewer lines and expand the capacity of the sewage treatment plant to handle the huge inflow to the facility during heavy rainfalls.
Two years ago, the Iowa DRN turned down discharge permits for residential/commercial developments in the two cities because of their recurring discharges of sewage into the river.
The city of Davenport okayed a comprehensive plan to address its inflow problems and expand its treatment plant in early 2010 along with enacting sewer rate hikes to begin paying for the initial projects.
Bettendorf's proposed 5-year capital improvement plan shows the city's $7-million share of the wastewater treatment plant expansion for fiscal year 2013-14. That would result in an estimated 32-cent increase in the current sewer rates, according to City Administrator Decker Ploehn.
"Davenport has begun to acquire property for the waster water equalization basin and we have an obligation to participate in the project," he said.
The city also anticipates spending more than $1 million during this fiscal year on infiltration studies and improvements to manholes and sewer lines to help correct inflow problems from storm water runoff.
Another nearly $6 million is projected to be spent in fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 for sewer extensions to serve undeveloped property near the Interstate 80 and Middle Road interchange.
The city council received the capital improvement budget overview earlier this week (12/7) from city staff and is expected to review it over the next two weeks.
