Upgrading a Small Wastewater Treatment Plant for the 21st Century

Fremont, Nebraska, is a city of approximately 25,000 people located in Eastern Nebraska. The city is served by a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) originally constructed as a primary treatment plant in the 1960s and subsequently expanded to secondary treatment in the 1970s. Wastewater treatment plants are typically designed for a life of 20 – 25 years for process equipment while structures are expected to serve longer. In the early 1990s, the City of Fremont began planning for the future of wastewater treatment for their community. This planning effort was necessitated for the following reasons: (1) Regulatory agency discharge permit modifications, (2) Implementation of the Part 503 Regulations, (3) Treatment technology changes, (4) Aging of existing systems, and (5) Capacity issues for both liquid and solids stream. In 1991, the City of Fremont retained Jacobson Helgoth Consultants (JHC) to prepare a Facility Plan to address the long-term needs of the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Once the Facility Plan was completed and approved by the regulatory agency, design of new facilities began. The project was accomplished in phases to meet funding limitations and allow for an orderly flow of construction while still maintaining all treatment processes in operation. The construction was completed in 2002 at a cost of $18,000,000. The plant consistently meets its discharge permit limitations and the requirements for disposal of stabilized biosolids. All systems have been updated to reflect the latest in treatment and equipment technology and the city has treatment capacity to meet it needs for the foreseeable future. As a result of these upgrades and modifications, the City of Fremont has a wastewater treatment plant that will serve it well for the first two to three decades of the 21^st century.