Wastewater plant to undergo 20-year renovation plan
The City of Blackfoot is planning to to upgrade its waste-water treatment plant.
City officials said generally equipment is installed with an estimated 20-year lifespan. But a lot of the equipment has been in operation since the 1960s. Although renovations are long overdue, treatment superintendent Rex Moffat said plant operations have come a long way over the years.
“It started out from a lagoon to what we have today through a series of upgrades,” said Moffat.
Moffat said the last major upgrade was in 2004, only a decade before the entire system was overloaded and went offline.
“The sweep arm in the clarifier has a lot of bolts and other machinery in it,” said Moffat. “Those bolts busted and it put the equipment out of alignment and it snagged other pieces, causing it to be taken offline and rebuilt.”
To keep the system from overloading and to prevent future incidents, over the next 20 years the city will work with JUB Engineers Inc. The total cost of the project is estimated at $18 million. Engineers will replace parts dating back to the 1960’s, throughout three phases, starting with a new clarifier.
“The clarifiers are critical.” said engineer Levi Shoolroy. “We plan on providing a good third clarifier. They currently have two, the third will provide the redundancy and reliability that they need to consistently treat the affluent before it goes to the river.”
The city said their No. 1 goal is meeting water quality standards, but they are also interested in providing reliable infrastructure to increase commercial and residential growth.
