ROCHELLE — At its meeting Feb. 12, the Rochelle City Council unanimously approved items to allow phase two of upgrades to the Rochelle Municipal Utilities wastewater treatment plant to move forward. 

The council previously rejected bids for the project in 2022 due to excessive costs. A redesign was done that resulted in a $10.67 million bid being approved in February. The project will be financed through an IEPA loan program. The loan currently includes $3.4 million in principal forgiveness and a 20-year term at 1.36 percent interest. Engineering on the project will cost $650,500 and the total cost will be $11,640,600. The city will repay a total amount of $8,148,420 after forgiveness.

The city expects to obtain the loan agreement on March 8, hold a preconstruction meeting on March 27, start construction on May 1 of this year and finalize the project in June 2025. 

RMU Superintendent of Water/Water Reclamation Adam Lanning said the project will involve converting half of the plant’s treatment process to biological nutrient removal for removing phosphorus.

The first phase of the upgrades wrapped up in 2021 and cost $7.4 million with $2.5 million forgiven on that loan. That phase included upgrading headworks equipment, converting aeration to biological phosphorus removal, upgrading the anaerobic lagoon, adding an office administration building and the conversion of the plant’s lab.

Regulations on phosphorus are coming in 2030, Lanning said, which is the basis for much of the past and future improvements. Other improvements will involve rehabbing excess flow lagoons that handle water that exceeds capacity of the plant in rain events and high-flow times. Filters will also be upgraded. The project will also put infrastructure in place to do chemical removal of phosphorus, if needed. 

“This second phase should meet the upcoming phosphorus limits by 2030,” Lanning said. “It's going to give us several years to perfect the system before that. Currently the EPA is making us do a nutrient assessment reduction plan by the end of this year. It's basically a watershed study on the Rock River from the Wisconsin border almost to the Mississippi River. It's a $1 million study we've done over the last three years. We're looking at all the nutrient inputs from different communities, municipalities and agriculture. We'll submit that and the EPA will determine what we think could likely end up being an even lower limit of phosphorus. If that does happen, we'll be required to incorporate chemical removal.”

Lanning said that after the phase two project, he doesn’t anticipate the wastewater treatment plant will need any more major work “for a while.” He doesn’t see any other major environmental regulations coming in the next 20-30 years. 

The total repayment by the city for both phases of work at the wastewater treatment plant will be around $13 million. 

“I think that's a pretty good number considering I've heard of communities paying upwards of $30-50 million for new treatment plants,” Lanning said. “We're trying to stay ahead of that. Our plant was originally built in the 1990s. The length of the life of a plant depends on when it was built and the quality of its construction. Typically, the life of one nowadays is typically around 30 years. The really expensive portion of replacing a wastewater facility is the concrete. Our concrete is in good shape. Anything that's been jeopardized, we're repairing it. The goal is to keep it there and just replace the mechanicals.”

RMU has gotten out ahead of regulations and done the work to meet them before being forced to by the IEPA. Lanning said expenses can add up quickly in those situations. 

The wastewater treatment plant upgrades will also allow RMU to be prepared for growth the city hopes for in its residential, industrial and commercial sectors. City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh praised Lanning and his department for their work.

“A lot of people don't think about what it takes to keep a society in operation,” Fiegenschuh said. “Having a wastewater treatment plant in good shape doesn't just help with economic development, it's quality of life. Adam has done a fantastic job. We're able to keep our rates lower than a lot of communities. It's because we get these grants and these low-interest forgiveness loans.”