City of Volga

Wastewater Treatment Facility Improvements | Volga, SD

The City of Volga, South Dakota lies straight west of I-90 and the college town of Brookings, which is home to South Dakota State University. With a population under 1,500, Volga is typical of many rural communities in the region that focus mostly on agriculture and small business. Maintaining infrastructure to support these industries, and the people who work in them is an essential role for local government.

In 2017, West Plains Engineering worked with Banner Associates on a fairly substantial improvement to the city’s wastewater treatment facility. Over time, the existing complex had become outdated and was due for an upgrade, which would not only allow for the City’s growth projections but also help to meet the anticipated changes to their discharge permit.

The project included a new pre-treatment building, as well as replacements and improvements within the existing 30-year-old blower building. Notably, the City also elected to add a UV system within an outdoor channel prior to the discharge to aid in the changes for permitting. UV systems are generally installed for disinfecting biologically treated wastewater in channels before discharge to the environment. UV treatment assures that the treated water meets USEPA standards. Our team brought 480V power to the site and designed for the equipment loads not only for the UV system itself but also for the blower motors and building needs.

Mechanically, the pre-treatment and blower buildings both involved special attention be paid to the heating and ventilation systems. For example, the process room in the pre-treatment building included an air-to-air heat recovery unit to maintain a temperature of 50 degrees, while the new blowers in the blower room drew air from outside to safely ventilate the space.

Finally, to assure easy operation of the facility, our team helped upgrade the Motor Control Center and assure power requirements were met for instrumentation and controls equipment.