The Marthasville Board of Aldermen last week approved spending $2,500 to replace wastewater treatment parts that Mayor David Lange said should have been replaced 10 years ago.
The parts in …
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The Marthasville Board of Aldermen last week approved spending $2,500 to replace wastewater treatment parts that Mayor David Lange said should have been replaced 10 years ago.
The parts in question are 50 synthetic rubber membranes attached to hoses beneath the surface of the city’s wastewater lagoon. The system diffuses air into the wastewater, feeding oxygen to bacteria in the water to help it break down waste.
“They release a bunch of small bubbles. The smaller the bubbles that come up through the wastewater, the more oxygen that gets in the water. It then makes the wastewater deteriorate faster,” Lange explained during a Dec. 18 board of aldermen meeting. “We’ve got several of them that are blowing big bubbles, so you know the diffuser is either blown out ... or the hose has a bad leak in it.”
Lange said the lowest estimate on a bulk purchase of the diffusers is $1,850. The recommended lifespan of the equipment is five years, Lange said, but they haven’t been replaced since being installed in the early 2000s.
Alderman Dan Grafrath suggested that the board approve additional funding to replace any damaged cables or hoses in the aeration system. The board did not have an estimate on the cost of the hose, but voted to approve a maximum of $2,500 for the project. The purchase was approved 3-0, with Alderman Nick Lange absent.
Mayor Lange said once the equipment is acquired, it will still be quite a task to get it installed. He estimated that the ends of the diffusers are 10 to 15 feet below the surface of the lagoon.
“It will take some doing to replace them all. There’s two (covers) on each diffuser. ... You’ve gotta go out there in a boat, pull them up and replace them,” Lange explained.
At the same meeting, aldermen also approved purchasing new steel grates for another area of the wastewater system. Lange said the grates are needed for tanks where ultraviolet light is used to help disinfect the water.
To have the grates custom-made would have cost $1,700, but Lange said city staff found used grates in good shape for sale online. The total cost would be $195, plus a trip to Iowa to pick them up and the effort to cut them down to the correct size.
The mayor said it seemed like a good deal to save over $1,000.
Alderman Leo Meyer agreed. “We’ve got a trailer. We might as well,” he commented.
