There is a lot that goes on in city government that “regular” folks probably don’t give much thought to. For example, when was the last time you thought about water quality-based effluent standards? I’d be willing to bet that the answer to that is, “never”. Water quality standards were established back in the 70s so that humans and the environment weren’t subjected to ever-increasing levels of toxic things like lead and mercury. Remember the good old days when Reserve Mining was dumping raw mining waste into Lake Superior and toxins from that discharge were turning up in drinking water all along the North Shore? Thanks to agencies like the EPA, we have water quality standards that help keep both the environment and humans healthier, smarter, and probably, better looking.
At Monday night’s Council meeting, the councilors heard from Brian Gludan, of Bolton and Menk. Gludan spoke about the fact that the city’s variance application, pertaining to mercury levels in wastewater discharge, has expired. It is necessary that the city have an updated NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit on file with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Bolton and Menk will provide the services for engineering and for application preparation, to keep the city in compliance.
What the city will be applying for is a variance to the mercury limits proposed in previous NPDES permits. Silver Bay submitted a variance request in 2018, and the MPCA requires new variance requests every 5 years. The MPCA has not issued a new permit for Silver Bay since 2015 due to a backlog in the MPCA’s system. The variance is necessary because, at times, the city’s wastewater treatment system discharges a higher level of mercury than allowed into the lake. While the city has upgraded its solid contact clarifiers, higher levels of mercury can be released from the system from time to time during high rain events as solids float out of sediments at the bottom of the clarifiers. A variance application will recognize this without financial repercussions for the city. The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) and the City of Grand Marais both have variances. The council voted to accept the proposal from Bolton and Menk for this work. The needed engineering and application services will come at a price of $24,000. Staff from Bolton and Menk will need to put 60 to 80 hours of work into the project.
The Council also accepted a proposal from Krause Anderson Construction for a facility condition assessment for the Mary MacDonald building. This comprehensive assessment will identify the current deferred maintenance needs, as well as upcoming facility expenditures, and will help develop a long-term facility maintenance plan that will help prioritize the needs of the building.
Silver Bay and Finland will, once again, be hosting the Superior Dark Sky Experience on October 17th and 18th. Featured activities include presentations on Ojibwe Star Culture, Impacts of Light Pollution on Everyone and Everything, Night Vision Stargazing, and more. There is a full list of events available on the city’s website.
The City Council will not be meeting on October 20th due to lack of quorum. The next council meeting is scheduled for November 3rd at 7:00 PM.
