Proactive Baxter getting federal stimulus money for treatment plant upgrades

For several years, the city of Baxter has had problems with flooding, particularly at the Baxter School and the city park nearby. Now, the city is facing a potentially more significant problem of being out of compliance with the Department of Natural Resources at its wastewater treatment plant.

Through the efforts of the Baxter Public Works, the City Council and the city’s engineering firm, Baxter is the only city in Jasper County that is receiving federal stimulus money to make a number of upgrades to the city’s water systems.

“The project began about two years ago with a letter from the DNR,” Baxter Mayor Steve Smith said. “It told us that our wastewater treatment plant was out of compliance. Our first step was hiring an engineering firm,” and Jason Miller of MSA Professional Services in Ankeny began working on the problem.

State policy changes in 2007 affect 450 communities in the state, Miller said, with a potential cost of about $1 billion. The DNR requirements are creating much stricter wastewater discharge standards, in effect broadening the number of streams that are deemed ‘fishable and swimmable.’ Therefore, changes must be made in the treatment process at Baxter’s wastewater treatment plant.

On the north side of town, the city has been having problems with flooding at the school, as well as a nearby park. To alleviate those problems, the city will install an infiltration system somewhere north of town, with funding from the State Revolving Loan Fund for drinking water and sewer improvements. Also, to save electrical costs, the city will install smaller pumps to the water tower, with larger pumps available for use during emergencies.

Other methods to reduce the amount of groundwater runoff have been undertaken by Baxter’s Public Works. Public Works Director Shawn Fuller said the city has rehabilitated manholes in the city’s old sewer main with an epoxy fiberglass lining, and retrofitted the sewer lines with a fiberglass sock which prevent groundwater from entering the wastewater treatment system, as well as eliminated several illegal sump pump hookups from residents.

Although the city was looking at adding an additional 85 acres to the wastewater treatment lagoons south of town, those sewer upgrades will greatly reduce the amount of groundwater entering the city’s treatment plant, cutting in half the amount of expansion needed at the treatment lagoons.