City officials have known for years that the Cologne wastewater treatment facility would eventually need major renovations. Regular maintenance has sustained the city thus far, but now the facility is reaching its capacity and the city is seeking a $15 million grant from the state to fund improvements.
Sen. Julia Coleman recently introduced a bill to secure the necessary funding, which will be heard Thursday, March 9 in the Senate Capital Investment Committee.
"The City of Cologne's wastewater treatment facility is over 25 years old and urgently needs upgrades to meet current permit standards and accommodate the city's growth," said Coleman in a statement.
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Without extensive improvements Cologne, residents will be looking at exponential user rate increases, according to the city. Additionally, the city says it’s facing a potential moratorium on growth and new development if it is unable to receive funding assistance from the state.
Cologne’s population has been steadily increasing year after year. From 2000 to 2020, the population of the city nearly doubled, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Cologne’s location along Highway 212 is also noteworthy as new construction could bring more traffic or prospective developers to the region.
“With more building and more construction and a four-lane highway rolling through, we’re looking at a boom tomorrow,” said Mayor Matt Lein.
Presently, the city has completed and submitted a wastewater facility plan to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In addition to its grant request, the city has also applied for the Clean Water Revolving Fund and Point Source Implementation Grant programs.
Unlike some cities in Carver County, such as Chaska or Chanhassen, Cologne is not part of the Metropolitan Council’s wastewater collection system. Instead, it treats its own wastewater.
The existing wastewater infrastructure was built in 1996, and the push for facility improvements is not only due to growth but environmental factors as well. Currently, the facility is exceeding the effluent phosphorus limits set by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Per the river eutrophication standards approved in 2015, limits to the amount of phosphorus released from a given wastewater treatment facility have become more stringent. Excessive phosphorus creates an overgrowth of algae that is harmful to aquatic life. The improvements serve to protect nearby Benton Lake and the Minnesota River basin.
Previous efforts to optimize the current facility include the city’s infiltration and inflow reduction plan, which consisted of closing unpermitted sewer system connections, repairing cracks in pipes and making sure excess water wasn’t entering the system. The plan helped delay the expansion of the facility, but officials knew that a new plant would eventually become necessary.
“We knew that today was coming, we just had no way to save for it,” said Lein.