On Wednesday, June 1, 2022, the Town of Wellington held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the roughly 48-million-dollar Water Reclamation Facility expansion. This project will increase the capacity of the current plant from 0.9 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) to 1.75 MGD allowing the Town to remain in compliance with state and federal regulations and continue treating everything that goes down the drain before returning the water into Boxelder Creek. The project is expected to be complete in 2024.
Mayor Calar Chaussee stated at the ceremony “Today we break ground on a historic water reclamation project that will improve water quality in Boxelder Creek and attract new investment to the Wellington community. This successful effort is the result of a true working partnership between government agencies, the past and current Board of Trustees, and the community.
To fund the expansion project a State Revolving Fund Loan was acquired. The organic loading to the facility has reached the permitted capacity. Improvements to the facility are required to meet more stringent discharge limits as well as to provide process equipment redundancy. The selected improvements for the project include a new influent pump station, headworks building, step feed aeration basin, two secondary clarifiers, UV facility, two aerobic digesters, and dewatering facility.
Process improvements to the existing secondary treatment system will also be made to meet anticipated effluent limits. The environmental and public health benefits will be higher effluent quality such as lower effluent biological oxygen demand, nitrogen, and phosphorus.