Expand Port’s sewage plant into the lake?

For years people have asked how the City of Port Washington can move its wastewater treatment plant off the lakefront. Now a study recommends that when the city needs to expand the facility, it should extend it into Lake Michigan.

That is likely the best of three options for the city, Ben Wood of Strand Associates, the engineering firm that will conduct a wastewater treatment systems facilities plan for the city, told the Board of Public Works last week.

“The current footprint of the existing plant is such that in order to expand capacity for those processes, you have to expand west into the bluff, north to the beach or east into Lake Michigan,” he said. “Each of these situations has unique environmental and permitting and coordination aspects to them.

“Our initial thought is the most viable option is to build out into the lake.”

That’s because expanding west to include additional aeration and clarification tanks would require a significant amount of goetechnical engineering and reinforcing of the bluff, he said.

Heading north to the beach is difficult too, Wood said, noting, “Taking away shoreline to the north for non-monetary reasons is kind of controversial.”

Building into the lake, he said, is difficult but likely the best option.

“You certainly can build out into the lake but there is all sorts of permitting that goes into that,” Wood said.

Ald. Mike Gasper, the board chairman, asked if the recommendation would be to build out a minimum amount of land — just enough to handle the increased capacity needed at the time — or to build more land to handle future expansion.

“That’s the exact kind of thing we’ll explore with this plan,” Wood said, noting it will include an implementation schedule.

With any recommendation, Wood said, there will be public meetings and hearings.

“The object is to keep the city prepared well in advance of when extra capacity is needed,” he said.

The board agreed to pay Strand Associates Inc. $325,000 to prepare the wastewater treatment systems facilities plan needed to guide the city as it plans for future updates to the plant and its equipment.

The study will be paid for through the city’s tax incremental financing plan for the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus.

The plan is required because the city has updated its sewer service plan twice in the last year, City Engineer Roger Strohm said.

He noted the study will look at everything from the city’s sewer system boundaries to the equipment needed to service the areas.

While the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus is included in the existing boundaries, Strohm said, the next phase “if there is one” should be added to the study.

“Otherwise we’re behind from the get-go,” he said.

The land in the Town of Port Washington that the city will be servicing with utilities as part of the data center agreement is already in the plan, he said, but the plan needs to also consider areas of potential growth on the east side of I-43 that will be ready for development as utilities are extended to the data center.

Strohm also noted that the city is working with the Village of Saukville to determine which areas on the city’s west side would be best serviced by the city and which ones should be handled by the village.

An agreement is being crafted that will allow the communities to swap sewer service areas depending on which can better handle the service, he said.

Strohm noted that the city’s wastewater treatment plant is operating at 25% to 30% of capacity, but with projected flows that percentage will increase to 80% or more — a time when planning for expansion should begin.

“The idea is to always have capacity outpace demand,” Wood said, especially since the time needed to get a project done is significant.