Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Improvements to Everly sewage ponds finished
Everly Council Member Tracey Grigg-Schuver looks over one of the aeration cells on Monday during a tour of the city's sewage treatment facility.
Engineer Brian Schmidt (left) explains one of the Sagr purification cells to Everly Mayor Brad Behrens on Monday at the city's sewage treatment facility.
Members of the Everly City Council listen to engineer Brian Schmidt during a tour of the city's sewage treatment facility on Monday evening.
Everly Council Member Tara Patrick inspects an aeration hose Monday night at the city's sewage treatment facility.
There was no ribbon cutting or parade, but a massive and important infrastructure upgrade project in Everly is now finished.
Work on the city's sewage treatment ponds is finished after more than a year of construction. The project was years in the making, with momentum finally carrying it to the finish line over the past three years.
Mayor Brad Behrens was happy and relieved to see things wrap up.
"My No. 1 main goal as mayor coming in was to get this done and see it through," he said.
Engineer Brian Schmidt gave Behrens and council members Tara Patrick and Tracey Grigg-Schuver a tour of the facility on Monday. It features two large holding cells for aeration to break down waste as well as four Sagr filtration units that clean wastewater more thoroughly before it is discharged.
A variety of other features like a massive storage basin and a UV disinfection unit improve water quality further. The $3.9 million upgrades will bring the city into compliance with Iowa DNR discharge standards, which is a change of pace. The old ponds would become inundated with water during large rain events, consequently forcing the city to prematurely discharge wastewater.
