7/27/2009 6:00:00 AM Verona sewer plant still possible Madison Met finishing its 50-year plan
Kelsey Dionne Verona Press correspondent
The Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District is still considering building a new water treatment plant in the southern part of Verona. It's been a possibility for several years, but a decision could be coming soon.
Jon Schellpfeffer, MMSD's chief engineer and director, gave a presentation to the Verona Town Board at its July 7 meeting to update officials on long-term plans MMSD has been developing for Madison's Far West side. MMSD is a few months from completing its 50-year master plan - a general outline of what the sewer district will need to build or expand to keep up with increasing sewage demands resulting from development in the Madison area.
He gave a brief history of the sewerage district and the purpose and scope of the long-range plan and said it's important to get public acceptance while recognizing that no matter where sewer treatment goes, someone will be unhappy.
Not surprisingly, MMSD expects quite a bit of growth on the west side over the next few decades.
The most, Schellpfeffer told the board, will happen in the Sugar River basin, which stretches west from Verona to Mount Horeb and south to Belleville. The main sewer interceptor for that area will reach maximum capacity around 2020, which is a not-too-distant future when you consider that it takes between seven and 10 years to build a new treatment plant.
Schellpfeffer said MMSD will conduct detailed studies to figure out whether building a new plant in southern Verona or expanding its current piping systems would be the most cost-effective in the long term.
"In the current master plan, we looked at probably 20 different alternatives for where we might build plants," he said. "In this next iteration of planning, we'd go into a lot more detail to figure out the processes."
Board members asked Schellpfeffer where a new plant might go, and he told them MMSD is considering locations in Section 33 of the town, south of the confluence of the Sugar River and Badger Mill Creek.
The Sugar River basin is the "only place where it looks like it would make some sense," in the next 10 to 15 years, he said, adding that the district has not yet purchased any land. "We need a site that is fairly close to the river, and it can't be too steep, it can't be all wetlands, it's got to have the right kind of slope and soil conditions."
It would also need to be decided on rather soon, he later explained.
"If we think this is still a viable option (after the plan is completed), then we'll need to get into the more detailed planning quickly," he said.
The alternative is adding capacity to the sewer interceptor between Verona and the Nine Springs treatment plant, between Lake Monona and Lake Waubesa. That would mean installing new piping to bring the clean water (effluent) back to the Sugar River basin, which ensures balance among the watersheds.
"There is no regulatory requirement that says we have to return the water to the Sugar River basin, but the public has more or less insisted that we do that," Schellpfeffer said. He added that MMSD would be willing to pump effluent back to the Sugar River basin if the public supported paying for it.
While a new plant would be a big capital cost, there would be major operational savings if water isn't pumped all the way to Nine Springs and then back, Schellpfeffer said, and the extra piping would not be necessary to return the water.
Schellpfeffer is planning an informational meeting for Verona residents, although a date has not yet been determined. Check www.connectverona.com for updates, or MMSD's Web site, www.madsewer.org.
