Expansion to Grand Forks' Wastewater Treatment Plant takes shape
Mar. 26—GRAND FORKS — Work on the expansion of Grand Forks' Wastewater Treatment Plant has gone on throughout the winter as the city works to expand the facility for the next 25 years of use.
Throughout the winter, foundation piles and work on facility upgrades have been ongoing. A total of 327 foundation pilings will be installed for the new expansion. The piles are being driven 135 feet into the earth, which is approximately the same height as a 13-story building. The piles have to be deep to keep the new building stable under its own weight and the weight of the wastewater it will treat on the soft soils in Grand Forks.
"The pipes sticking out of the ground, those are the deep foundations of the helical installs," said Darin Pfingsten, president of PKG Contracting the company working on the project. "We basically screw (the piles) into the ground and it's a non-destructive installation and doesn't cause any (soil) migration."
Earthwork for the expansion began last fall.
Work on the concrete base of the building will begin as soon as the weather warms up. The whole project is currently expected to cost $98.8 million between phases one and two. Currently, phase two is expected to cost the city $69.5 million.
Phase one, which includes updates and repairs to the existing facilities at the wastewater treatment plant, is expected to wrap up this fall. Construction began last fall with safety improvements and upgrades to electrical equipment. Also at that time, earthwork began for phase two.
Phase two is the construction of a parallel facility to the existing facility to meet future growth needs. The parallel facility will use a membrane bioreactor process to treat the city's wastewater, a more modern process than the current facility.
"It will be a lot easier to operate," said Carmen Syverson, utility engineer for the city.
"Plus we can use that reuse water, that was a big part for us," Grand Forks Water Works Director Melanie Parvey said. The new facility provides more options for reusing water. Instead of taking more freshwater from the Red River, industries will have the option to use water leaving the system, helping the city save on its water use.
"(The current facility) is older technology. (The expansion) is taking advantage of new technology," Pfingsten said. "(Reuse water) is becoming a big thing; Fargo has done a couple of expansions and we're adding on right now to their effluent reuse facility so that they can sell water coming out of the plant."
Industries like the
new Epitome Energy Soybean Crush Plant
will be able to buy reuse water from the city to use in their industrial processes.
For the project, the city is using PKG Contracting. PKG is considered the construction manager at risk, meaning unlike traditional bidding, where the city would have to potentially work with multiple contractors, PKG serves as the main contractor. This method was chosen because of the increased costs of construction and is the same method chosen
for the water treatment plant project.
The wastewater treatment plant was placed online in June 2003 and the city of East Grand Forks was connected to the plant in 2017. Currently, the city processes around 8.4 million gallons a day. The average flow is expected to grow to 13.8 million gallons per day by 2040. The expansion will expand the plant's capacity from 12.4 million gallons to 14.9 million gallons daily.
The expansion can also be readily expanded to 7.5 million gallons for a total of nearly 20 million gallons per day of treatment. Construction for the expansion is expected to finish in 2026, with the expansion being commissioned and operational by the beginning of 2027.
