Baxter agrees to participate in wastewater treatment study

BAXTER -- The Baxter City Council on Tuesday approved participating in a regional wastewater treatment study with area units of government.

With the passage of the resolution to support the study, Baxter would pledge $5,000 cash and $4,000 in in-kind services, though those numbers aren't etched in stone, said Larry Kruse, Baxter city administrator.

The study, called the Central Lakes Area Regional Sewage Treatment Study, would be a cooperative study between Baxter, Brainerd, East Gull Lake, Crow Wing County and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, if all agree to participate.

Along with studying waste treatment options, the study would look at building a wastewater treatment facility that the municipalities would own.

The estimated total cost of the project would be $115,000, with $12,500 cash from applicants, $12,500 cash from the Initiative Fund, $40,000 from in-kind contributions from the applicants and $50,000 in grants.

The scope of the proposed study would include, among other things: demographic trends in the region; projection of scope of the area's wastewater treatment needs, including estimated total flows and loadings, through the year 2020; review of local wastewater treatment plant capacity, permit limits, infrastructure infiltration problems, compliance status and expansion potential; and evaluating the performance and viability of subsurface disposal and treated wastewater reuse options in the lakes area.

The MPCA, in a memo to the city, said a joint wastewater planning effort would lead to ongoing collaborative decision making and potential cost reduction in wastewater service to be shared by participating units of government.

The proposed study still needs to be approved by the other cities and Crow Wing County.