At the Aug. 15 meeting of the Osceola City Council, council approved 5-0 a wastewater treatment facility water reuse study agreement with Veenstra & Kimm that will look into the possibility of reusing the wastewater at the treatment plant to help supplement the available drinking supply.
Current water supply
West Lake, which supplies water to Osceola and services areas of Southern Iowa Rural Water Association (SIRWA), is more than four feet below the spillway; both Osceola Water Works and SIRWA are requesting water conservation from their members.
Approximately 1.3 million gallons of water per day (MGD) is processed through the water treatment plant, but West Lake only has a safe withdrawal rate of 0.8 MGD. Studies conducted show there will be a 2 MGD future shortage, which the new reservoir will help to make up the difference.
The recycled wastewater would be a short term solution until the new reservoir is completed. While reuse of the wastewater has been discussed before, it’s generally been in relation to irrigation at the Osceola Municipal Golf Course. As water supply issues continue out of West Lake, however, the discussion has turned to supplementing the available water supply.
Financial impact
Wastewater is discharged into Whitebreast Creek, and a project to reroute that water to the West Lake watershed would have a rough project cost estimated between $10-15 million dollars. A recirculation pipe that is 12 inches in diameter that is capable of recirculating 1.5 MGD. would likely be used, with Osceola’s estimated usage in the 0.6-1.0 MGD range.
“The only way this project works for us financially…looking at serious dollars from the American Rescue Plan,” said Osceola city administrator Ty Wheeler.
In order to qualify for American Rescue Plan Act dollars through the state revolving loan fund,a preliminary engineering study would need to be completed along with an antidegradation analysis of the recirculation to West Lake and the watershed.
Randy Johnson with Veenstra & Kimm spoke to council about how he has been working with the Osceola Water Works to come up with different ideas and solutions to the water problem, including delving further into this one.
“With this project, what we’re trying to do is develop concept options to have the discussion with DNR,” said Johnson.
Once something is on paper, then the discussions that need to be had with the various entities - the city of Osceola, OSceola Water Works, DNR, etc. - can begin, then looking for funding options will follow. Johnson echoed an earlier sentiment that the recirculated water could help freshen West Lake, due to the lack of nutrients in the treated water.
Time frame
When asked about a timeline, Johnson told council that Wheeler would like to have a report done within 30-45 days. If everything were to proceed smoothly and the DNR okayed the project for ARPA funds, it would take between eight and 12 months for designing and to get the project under construction. Johnson estimated at best, the project would take two years; ARPA funds must be used by 2026. A pump station and possibly a booster station would need to be installed, along with the approximately five miles of piping.
“We appreciate your diligence on this project…we hope for a positive fruition,” said Osceola mayor Thomas Kedley.
Meeting minutes can be found in the legal section of this newspaper and on the city’s website.