November 2nd’s Silver Bay City Council meeting included one matter which may eventually have a big impact on part of the City’s utility infrastructure: the Wastewater Treatment Facility. The 70-year-old facility has had sporadic updates over the years but has recently come under scrutiny regarding its ability to filter out mercury before sending water onwards into Lake Superior. Bolton & Menk Principal Engineer Brian Guldan was on hand to talk the Council through the problem.
Since 2018, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has given Silver Bay a variance regarding the City’s output of mercury, a dangerous pollutant, into Lake Superior. This variance is allowed to communities with financial hardship, allowing extra leeway for meeting acceptable levels, with the idea that the community simply can’t afford to make upgrades that would filter out the pollutant.
Around a year ago, the City learned from the Agency that a new variance application would be needed for Silver Bay. On review of the application, however, the MPCA responded with doubts over the City’s continued use of a variance. Reasons given for this were a lack of information, the City’s financial state, and concerns about stalled forward progress towards meeting the limit. When the variance was first granted to the City, Guldan explained, the intent was to test whether the wastewater treatment facility could meet mercury limits. But “through the course of operations over the last several years the facility has not been able to meet final limits.”
Guldan presented the Council with two routes the City can take from here: continuing to apply for variance, or doing a compliance schedule. He expressed skepticism about the former route, stating that “Based off what we were hearing [from MPCA], even with additional information it didn’t sound all that likely that the variance would be granted” to Silver Bay. Even in the event a variance was given, he warned it would be considered a temporary solution, and they would be expected to work towards compliance during the five years until another application was needed.
Instead, the compliance schedule was his recommendation, and the resolution before the Council was to allow pursuit of that route. In contrast to the variance, the compliance schedule could give the long-term solution to not only the mercury issue but Silver Bay’s wastewater treatment facility problems as a whole. It would take 8-10 years to complete, with for him the ideal result of a brand new wastewater treatment facility for the City. “I don’t think you should just go fix the mercury issue,” Guldan said, “I think you should leverage all of this into a facility that’s gonna last you for another 80 years. That’s going to be the best use of your money. Is it gonna cost you a bit more on the front end? Yes, but it’s gonna be the best use of money for your ratepayers in the long term.”
Although some members of the Council balked at the immediate expense, Guldan’s reasoning included a number of grants that would become available to Silver Bay should they choose to take on a compliance schedule. Any costs associated with meeting the limit could garner up to $12 million and 80% grant funding, in addition to the possibility of a WIF (Water Infrastructure Fund) grant from the state, which currently could grant a maximum of $10 million, meaning potentially over $20 million in funding for improvements. Another possible funding source, the IRRRB, does not fund mercury projects but, he pointed out, might help with an overall facility upgrade.
Although recent City upgrades have helped, such as the Street Improvements cutting down on I&I (infiltration and inflow) and a new tertiary clarifier, it is not enough, because an issue like mercury filtration is affected by all parts of the facility. Guldan warned that, given the facility’s age, if they tried to only fix the mercury limit problem and not the rest, “you’re gonna be back in that facility in another five to ten years fixing the rest of it and then all of it’s going to be coming out of your pocket without the benefit of these grants.”
Limits for mercury vary depending roughly on proximity to the Great Lakes, with Silver Bay’s limit being 1.9 (3.8 while under the variance), Aurora’s around 2.2, and lower Minnesota ballparking 7.9. Current compliance with the mercury limit in local communities is hit and miss, though improving over time. Some examples given by Guldan: Grand Marais is under a variance and has not met the limit yet, while Babbitt and Two Harbors installed tertiary filters allowing them to meet the limit. Silver Bay’s current facility meets the 3.8 limit most of the time but not all of the time and has never been able to meet 1.9.
The limits are based on a program under the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which, among several goals, aims to reduce pollutants such as mercury introduced into the Great Lakes. The states, in turn, have their own oversight agencies, with Minnesota’s being the MPCA. Guldan confirmed that Wisconsin and Michigan have similar regulatory limits in place.
The Council briefly floated the idea of a third option: Doing Nothing. Guldan answered that this would result in fines from the MPCA, which would increase over time as their way of trying to force improvements. Silver Bay Mayor Wade LeBlanc was in favor of doing the compliance schedule, stating he was unsure about financials but “we’ve got 8-10 years to figure it out,” rather than endlessly relying on variance approval until it is rejected “and then every money you’ve spent to fight it, you’ve just – that is gone.”
hedule would have no immediate expenses for the City, calling it a drawn-out process. After stating Silver Bay’s interest in a compliance schedule, they would get a permit in around 12-15 months, with the terms of the City’s compliance laid out and yearly goals for the City to hit the mercury limit. Guldan further confirmed that Silver Bay does not become locked into their compliance schedule “until it gets written in your permit. So I think there’d be plenty of time there to decide if you’re comfortable with the schedule they’re giving you.” If accepted, he thinks the City will have a good amount of time to make improvements and, in the meantime, get more use out of their current facility before moving on to a significant upgrade.
