The City of Sun Prairie is one of the fastest-growing communities in Wisconsin, with a projected population increase of over 20% by 2030. This level of rapid development was beginning to exert demands upon city infrastructure, including its Water Pollution Control Facility.
Due to MSA’s dedicated history of partnering with the city on the planning, design and construction of various facility upgrades over the years, MSA was again chosen in 2018 to conduct a capacity study to determine the best course of action for upgrades moving forward. While the facility had continued to perform well, it became clear that certain processes were nearing capacity and mechanical failures were becoming more frequent. In addition, the city’s effluent limits for total phosphorus were being drastically lowered by the DNR, requiring a much greater degree of treatment and upgrades to the tertiary filtration system.
MSA first conducted facilities planning to evaluate alternatives and identify the most cost-effective solutions before embarking on the design and construction-phase services for the requisite improvements — including upgrades to raw wastewater and side-stream pumping, mechanical fine screening, primary clarification and sludge fermentation, new aeration system, final clarification, tertiary filtration, and waste-activated sludge handling. MSA conducted an architectural evaluation of the building as well, incorporating improvements to concrete walls and floors, and reroofing the administration building.
The resulting $19.9-million renovation makes much-needed upgrades to Sun Prairie’s Water Pollution Control Facility, building resiliency and supporting future needs all while achieving ultra-low effluent phosphorus concentrations. The project involved professionals from MSA’s civil/site design, process piping, process mechanical, HVAC, plumbing, architectural, electrical, and instrumentation and controls design teams and was completed in 2022.