While the first loan created a new facility to match current demand, the second loan funded the upgrades and creation of essential processes to support future demand, including additional oxidation ditches, clarifiers, an expanded ultra-violet disinfection system and a new biosolids treatment system. In total, the new facility is able to treat wastewater in a way that creates cleaner water and trades out chemicals like chlorine—a win for residents and our natural areas.

The new biosolids treatment system has more control over the treatment process and is more efficient, which supports the goal of creating superior clean water, but also makes for a pretty interesting lesson in science. In the previous lagoon system, solids would sink to the bottom of the water. Every couple of years, a contracted company would come to pump the sludge out of the lagoon, which was an expensive but common and necessary solution. This system also complicated the overall treatment plant process with the potential release of phosphorous into the water.