Water Pollution Control

The Water Pollution Control Division is in charge of keeping the City of Council Bluffs in compliance with local, state, and federal regulations as they pertain to water quality issues. With a staff of 28 dedicated employees, this division operates and maintains the Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as 16 sanitary pump stations and 11 storm water pump stations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Wastewater Treatment Plant

This public - owned facility is located just south of Council Bluffs at 18238 Applewood Road. Constructed in 1972-1974 at cost of $11,400,000, it replaces an outdated treatment facility located just west of Bluffs Run on 23rd Avenue. In 1996, a $5 million Plant upgrade project added additional treatment capacity, plus equipment to meet the growing need to efficiently handle the organic solids captured and removed from the waste stream. In 2001, Phase I of a preliminary treatment process upgrade was completed. In 2003-2004, Phase II and III further improved the Plant's preliminary treatment process. Even with these improvements, the Plant is currently operating at full capacity. Public Works has identified a need to further expand the Plant's capacity to meet the ever-growing needs of its industrial, commercial, and residential users.

Wastewater facilities are inherently expensive to build and maintain because of the corrosive characteristics of a sanitary waste stream. Equipment involved in wastewater treatment must be constructed of corrosion-resistant materials. The cost of this specialized equipment is relatively high compared to most standard industrial equipment. A large portion of the day to day maintenance work at this facility involves applying corrosion-resistant coatings to equipment and structures to slow the deterioration rate. It has been estimated that the average useful life cycle of a wastewater treatment plant is only 25 years due to the affects of the corrosive environment. Knowing this, it becomes more apparent why operating and maintenance costs are high.

The Council Bluffs Water Pollution Control Plant treats an average of 7 million gallons of wastewater per day. During storm events, flows to the Plant have reached as high as 30 million gallons per day. The City has taken an aggressive approach to identify and remove storm water inflow sources from the sanitary sewer collection system. Many sources have been removed, and more are being identified.

The wastewater treatment process itself consists of three very distinct steps. The first step involves a mechanical process to screen materials such as paper and plastic from the water. The water then passes through basins where the heavy grit, sand, rock, and other materials are removed. All material removed in this first step is collected and disposed of via County operated landfill.

The second step is to capture and treat the organic solids in the waste stream. This is accomplished by slowing down the velocity of the water in tanks called clarifiers. In the clarifiers, the organic particles are allowed to settle to the bottom of the tanks where they are collected, then pumped to another set of tanks called digesters. In the digesters, organic solids are retained for approximately 30 days. During this time, the temperature in the tanks is maintained at 99 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is optimum for a type of bacteria that uses the organic solids as a food source. The digester process not only reduces the volume of the organic mass, but it also serves to stabilize the material and reduce it essentially to nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. We call the stabilized material BIOSOLIDS. Farmers call this FERTILIZER, and indeed, it is. Our staff, under the guidance of regulations from the State of Iowa and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), applies this stabilized material to agricultural land. The City has approximately 3500 acres of land under agreement with local land owners who wish to participate in our biosolids application program. The City also owns approximately 250 acres near the Plant facility that are included in the program. Beneficial use of biosolids on agricultural land is something that is not only recognized and encouraged by governing officials, but it's also gaining wide acceptance among the public.

The third step in this process is to treat the water remaining in the clarifiers after the heavy organic solids were collected and removed. Bacteria are again put to work. The water is sent to a series of reactor tanks. There are two types of reactor tanks: fixed film and suspended growth. In both types, there exists a colony of bacteria that thrive on the soluble organics in the water. Again, the water is "retained" in these tanks for a period of time to allow the bacteria to absorb all the soluble organic "food" it can. Once these bacteria have done their job, the water quality has improved to a point where it is nearly ready to go. To settle out any remaining solids, the water passes through another set of clarifiers before it leaves the Plant. The remaining solids are returned to the Plant headworks, and the clarified water is discharged to the Missouri River.

The Treatment Plant is staffed 24 hours a day/7 days a week with 3-8 hour shifts each day. The majority of all maintenance, laboratory, and operational work are done during the dayshift hours, 7 AM to 3 PM. The other two shifts primarily operate the Plant as well as the Pump Stations, along with some lab and maintenance work.

Pump Stations

An extension of the Treatment Plant, and equally as important, is the operation and maintenance of its 16 sanitary pump stations. These stations are designed to convey the collected waste stream to the Treatment Plant. Of these 16 stations, 5 are connected directly to a pipe linking the City to the Treatment Plant. This pipe is called a "force main" and is 36 to 42 inches in diameter, and approximately 8 miles long. The largest of the 5 force main stations is located north of the I-80 Bridge at the Missouri River. It handles about 75 % of the City's waste stream, and has a pumping capacity of 30 million gallons per day. At nearly 30 feet deep with 5 major pumps, this station today would cost over $5 million to replace.

The City also operates 11 storm water pump stations along the Missouri River, Indian Creek, and Mosquito Creek levee systems. During wet weather periods, levels in these waterways can become quite high. When they reach a level where the storm water can no longer flow by gravity into the streams, storm water pump stations are activated. Storm water from the City is then pumped up into these streams so as not to flood low-lying areas near the levees.

All sanitary pump stations and most storm pump stations are monitored continuously by Plant staff. The stations are linked to the Plant computers via microwave radio. The Plant Operator is able to observe whether or not the stations are functioning properly. If not, the computer generates an alarm to alert the operator of potential problems. The larger sanitary pump stations are also checked manually once per shift, and more often during storm events.

If you would like further information regarding the Water Pollution Control Division, please contact us at 712-328-4642. Our office hours are Monday - Friday 7 AM to 3 PM.

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