City of New Albin holds grand opening for new Algaewheel® wastewater treatment facility that is first of its kind for a municipality in state of Iowa


New Albin wastewater treatment facility first of its kind in Iowa ... The floating wheels in both tanks at the new wastewater treatment plant - celebrated with a grand opening in New Albin Thursday, October 17 - rotate due to the bubbles created by the submerged blowers that drive the paddles on the wheels. As the sun shines through the greenhouse and strikes the algae that forms on each wheel, photosynthesis occurs. In a symbiotic chemical reaction with bacteria present in the wastewater, the algae convert ammonia to nitrates that can then be safely released into the Mississippi River. Each wheel is three feet in diameter by one and a half feet wide. With five wheels side-by-side on a shaft and 15 shafts per tank, each large tank holds 75 wheels. Both tanks together at the facility total 150 wheels that are enclosed in a greenhouse. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

Full control ... State-of-the-art computer controls integrate the whole operating system of the new wastewater treatment facility in New Albin. City worker Price Barnes is pictured above with the panel that controls the blowers in the greenhouse. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

Instrumental in making it happen ... Pictured above during the grand opening tour of the new wastewater treatment facility in New Albin are, left to right, Lucas Elsbernd, senior project engineer with Fehr Graham Engineering; George Blair, New Albin City Council member who many give credit to for being the “guiding force” behind the new treatment facility; and Dan Johnson, chief technology officer at OneWater. Elsbernd described New Albin as a “perfect fit, as a city, for this technology.” Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

The planning and development meetings for New Albin’s new wastewater treatment facility (the exterior of which is pictured above during the facility’s October 17 grand opening tour) began over eight years ago. What began as a $4.5 million project became - through loan forgiveness ($1 million by the Iowa State Revolving Fund) and two grants administered by Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) - the city ended up with a 30-year, low-interest loan of $3,506,660 after administration costs. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

Pointing out the many positives ... Pictured above at the grand opening of the new wastewater treatment facility in New Albin are, left to right, New Albin Mayor Tom Feurhelm; OneWater Director Paul Kesterton, who flew in from London, England for the grand opening; and Eric Lawrence, sales engineer with Vessco, Inc. In addition to the Algaewheel® system implemented in the new treatment facility, some of New Albin’s original wastewater structures were also retained, retrofitted and integrated with a Vessco, Inc. screening system and aerobic digesters. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

It has been more than eight years in the making; and it involved a team effort by city officials, designers, engineers, construction groups, and the developers of a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment technology which is being implemented for the first time in a municipality in the state of Iowa.

Paul Kesterton is a director at OneWater Group, Ltd., the Hong Kong-based company that developed the wastewater treatment technology called Algaewheel®; he flew in from London for the grand opening of that new innovative New Albin wastewater treatment facility celebrated Thursday, October 17.

With this new facility, Kesterton said, “(New Albin) is on the vanguard.”

According to people who saw this project come to fruition, it would not have been possible without the efforts - and sheer perseverance - of New Albin City Council member George Blair, widely considered the “guiding force” behind the project.

“It would not have happened, without George - especially not something as innovative as this,” according to Betsy Whitlatch - whose husband, Alberto, was the city’s mayor throughout much of the project’s development.

Speaking at a luncheon preceding the grand opening and tour of the facility, Blair said, “The planning and development meetings (for the project) began over eight years ago. This all began as a $4.5 million project. Through loan forgiveness ($1 million by The Iowa State Revolving Fund) and two grants administered by Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC), the city ended up with a 30-year, low-interest loan of $3,506,660 after administration costs. We now have a superior wastewater plant that is operating well below the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) required limits of an average - 25mg/L per month. Our weekly and monthly average BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), the most significant measure of pollution, is 5-10mg/L (mid-September through October 7). This is less than half of the DNR limits - meaning we are meeting levels well beyond what is required.”

Initially, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was skeptical of the city’s choice of the Algaewheel® system, Blair said. “Never having dealt with this particular system in the past, they had justifiable doubts regarding its efficacy,” he explained. “As I recall, it was well into the second year of meetings in Des Moines, and we still failed to receive permission to proceed.”

Blair asked Dan Johnson, chief technology officer at OneWater to come to Iowa (from OneWater’s office in Indianapolis, IN) to assist in convincing the Iowa DNR of the workability of this system. “He arrived a little early, and after a brief exchange about water treatment engineering and methodology with the Iowa DNR engineers, we were granted the authorization to proceed with the project,” Blair said.

Concluding his presentation at the grand opening, Blair thanked several organizations for their help in completing the project. “Specifically, New Albin recognizes the accomplishments of design and supply by OneWater Algaewheel®; engineering by Fehr Graham; the general contractor, Wapasha Construction; and many sub-contractors, including some here today - Mracek Plumbing, Heating, & Electrical, Winona Mechanical, Fairway Painting and Sandblasting, Carey Specialized Services, Apex Fence, Automation & Control Systems, and Vessco, Inc. In addition to the Algaewheel®  system, some of New Albin’s original wastewater structures were retained, retrofitted and integrated with a Vessco, Inc. screening system and aerobic digesters. State-of-the-art computer controls integrate the whole system.”

ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY
The website for Algaewheel® describes it as “an innovative, bio-engineered, nature-based wastewater treatment technology” (algaewheel.com). It consumes up to 95 percent less electricity than conventional systems, using no chemicals, while absorbing significantly more CO2 than it emits.

In an earlier presentation - at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new wastewater treatment facility in the spring of 2022 - Blair described the way the technology works, saying, “the floating wheels in both tanks rotate due to the bubbles created by the submerged blowers that drive the paddles on the wheels. As the sun shines through the greenhouse and strikes the algae that forms on each wheel, photosynthesis occurs. In a symbiotic chemical reaction with bacteria present in the wastewater, the algae convert ammonia to nitrates that can then be safely released into the Mississippi River.

The whole system has very little friction, requiring less energy to operate, thereby reducing energy costs. Harnessing additional assistance from the sun, the city plans to further reduce energy costs by installing an adjacent solar array.”

During the facility tour October 17, OneWater Director Kesterton told a reporter about the economic efficiency of the technology. With up to 95 percent less electricity usage than conventional systems, Kesterton said, “Over 30 years, that’s real money. And no chemicals are used.”

Additionally, he said, the system has “extremely low operating costs and is extremely low maintenance. That equals real money. No new wastewater treatment plant under 500,000 gallons a day ought to be built in the state of Iowa unless it’s using Algaewheel.”

After touring the new facility, New Albin Mayor Tom Feuerhelm said he was impressed by the plant’s cost efficiency (and by the fact that the project came in $900,000 under budget). “I’m more impressed than I thought I’d be,” he said.