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FAIRMONT -- The Fairmont Public Utilities Commission received an update Tuesday on the involved and expensive process of closing the city's lime ponds.
For many years, the lime slurry byproduct from the former water treatment plant was deposited by the city's tree dump. Since this byproduct from the new water plant can be sold, the ponds are no longer needed and must be closed. The city has been working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for many months to develop a multi-phase plan to do so.
After evaluating a soil report and developing a preliminary design, the next step will be to submit this information to the state for guidance on the final design to cap the ponds, Troy Nemmers, city engineer/public works director, told the PUC.
"With the current design, we're not moving a lot of lime sludge at all, but it's going to require a lot of fill to be hauled in," he said.
There's still the question about whether the state will approve the design, but Nemmers predicts he will get the final state approval by the end of this year.
In basic terms, the lime ponds would be de-watered, blanketed with a special fabric and then covered with dirt. Nemmers wants to do a test run using soil from the upcoming Margaret Street reconstruction project, hoping the process works well because the deadline on the project's state permit is approaching.
"It has to be done in 2019," he said. "We've got to haul a lot of dirt up there. That leaves next summer to haul dirt and the winter to spread it."
Another significant step in the project, de-watering the lime pits, also will have to be done in the summer of 2018.
"It's not going to be a cheap project," Nemmers said. However, capping the ponds is a more logical solution than hauling the byproduct away, a method that would take many years.
In another matter, Doug Rainforth, water/wastewater superintendent, explained the increase in chemical costs for the year and the hardness of the water.
"We maintained an algae presence in the lake all winter. That's not typical," he said. "Also, the incoming water was carrying a higher level of hardness than ever before. That's significant in the amount of lime and other chemicals we have to add."
In electrical usage, Fairmont hit a peak last Friday, Sept. 22. The heavy usage that day will add about $32,000 to overall utility costs.