Grand Forks Wastewater System Master Planning
City of Grand Forks, ND

Need for Master Planning

The City of Grand Forks last completed a wastewater system master planning effort in 1984, which provided a basis of planning over the past 20+ years.  Based on current challenges including community growth, aging infrastructure, and increasing operation and maintenance costs, the City deemed it necessary to again initiate the master planning process.  The master planning process was also needed to address the recent construction of a mechanical wastewater treatment facility and subsequent phases required to evaluate potential improvements to the headworks, provide updated costs for a permanent method of biosolids management, and the ability to practice continuous discharge.

Here’s the Plan(s)

To address these challenges, the City of Grand Forks retained AE2S in 2005 to complete Wastewater Utility Planning Services.   The effort consisted of four planning documents:  a  Water and Wastewater Utility Baseline Planning Document, a Wastewater Collection System Master Plan (CSMP), a Wastewater Treatment Concept Plan, and a Capital Improvements Plan and Rate Model.  Together, these documents provide an assessment of existing infrastructure, identify future operating requirements, and establish a proactive planning approach for the wastewater utility.

Looking to the Future

Specific outcomes of the CSMP included strategies for assessing the integrity of the collection system to control infiltration and inflow rates, cleaning and rehabilitating forcemains to improve the operating efficiency and capacity of the system, and refurbishing lift stations to replace pumping and associated support systems.  The CSMP was coordinated with the 2035 Land Use Plan prepared by the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization in anticipation of meeting future infrastructure capacity requirements in an orderly fashion.  Along with the Wastewater Treatment Concept Plan, the study effort addresses current deficiencies and prepares the wastewater utility for the next 20 years by prioritizing improvements and maximizing the benefit of expenditures to best manage rate impacts to residents, businesses, and institutions of the community.