On Friday, the city of Jefferson held a program and ribbon-cutting at one of its facilities.

The newly renovated Wastewater Treatment Plant was highlighted during a Jefferson Matters Java and Juice event at Kelso Park. City Administrator Scott Peterson mentioned that the plant is a vital piece of the infrastructure and with the $18.5 million project, it is now set up for several decades to come. Wastewater Department Head Danny Moranville shared how he thought the project went overall.

“It went pretty good, it went pretty smooth. We kept everything running that we needed to have running, and the contractors worked with us good. And I guess, overall it was quite long.”   

The contractor was Shank Constructors and the project started in 2023 and had a delay this past May of 200 days for substantial completion, due to a backlog of some of the electrical components. The project was substantially completed in mid-July. Moranville highlighted one of the more impressive parts which was the 750,000 gallon sludge tank.

“We actually have a thickener and it runs through the thickener. We have to put it into our digesters and it sits in there for a few months and digests. And then we put it into the holding tank, which once it gets into the holding tank it can be land applied. So we just wait for fall, which makes it easier on everybody to go ahead and land apply that, then.” 

During Java and Juice, it was mentioned that this project was a necessity from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources with new nutrient reduction and affluent rates.