Site work, renovation and addition to a water / sewer project in Ames, Iowa. Conceptual plans call for the addition of a water / sewer project; and for the renovation of a water / sewer project.

The Ames WPC Facility uses an advanced secondary (i.e. biological) treatment process. The biological processes are designed to operate within a range of flow rates. If the flows increase too high or too rapidly, the biomass can be washed out of the treatment basins, negatively impacting the treatment effectiveness for several days or weeks to follow. Facilities like Ames are commonly constructed with flow equalization basins. Ames currently has an effective flow equalization storage capacity of 4.4 million gallons. When flows coming in to the plant exceed the hydraulic capacity of the biological process, the excess flow is diverted to the equalization basins and is later brought back through the treatment process, once the incoming flow rate drops below the capacity of the plant. On those rare occasions when the basins are completely filled and the influent flow rate has not yet dropped below capacity, the equalization basins begin a controlled overflow. The overflow is recombined with the treated plant effluent prior to discharge to the receiving stream, with the combined flow meeting all numeric discharge limits in the NPDES permit. The 2012 Long-Range Facility Plan evaluated the wet-weather flow handling capability of the WPC Facility. It concluded that, in conjunction with the increased sewer rehabilitation being pursued by Public Works, a flow equalization capacity increase of six million gallons at the treatment plant would be needed to achieve the performance required by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The IDNR is currently drafting a statewide Wet Weather Flow Policy to help utilities determine how much equalization capacity they should have. While this project remains in FY 2019/20 as shown last year, staff intends to not moveforward until the IDNR's policy has been released and the need for additional equalization capacity is confirmed. The project was included in the city's 2018-2023 Capital Improvement Program (CIP). As of November 17, 2020, further details regarding design and construction have not been identified.* *Project information has been obtained through a public capital improvement plan (CIP). A CIP is a financial schedule for short- and long-range projects which is updated regularly. Information listed in the CIP often evolves based on funding availability and the project details, including timeline and value, are subject to change. The content management team will continue to pursue additional details as they become available. As of July 10, 2023, no new information available