DURABLE GRAND JUNCTION WASTEWATER FACILITY MAY SEE EXPANSION

Plans may soon be underway for the expansion of a nearly 40 year-old wastewater treatment plant on the northwest side of Grand Junction.

The Persigo Wastewater Treatment plant, located at 2145 River Road, was opened in 1983 and processes about 8.2 million gallons of wastewater per day.

By federal law, because the facility has reached the 80 percent capacity level, a plan must be rolled out detailing its future expansion.

While Grand Junction’s Wastewater Services Division is currently in the process of updating the city’s Wastewater Master Plan, a more important indication of the plant’s future has come with a vote by the city council.

That vote gave the green light to contracting out with the Denver-based Carollo Engineers to develop a roadmap for the expansion of the plant.

Along with that expansion could come an updating of the current facility, which was built at a cost of $28 million.

Three years ago, the plant made national headlines when it launched a $2.8 million process transforming raw sewerage into renewable natural gas carried through an underground pipeline and used as fuel for the city’s garbage trucks, among other vehicles.
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City officials think the updated master plan will be completed sometime next year, at which point the design phase for the expansion of the wastewater plant is expected to begin.

By Garry Boulard

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