City of Racine

In the spring of 2002, the communities of Racine, Mount Pleasant, Caledonia, Sturtevant and respective sewer utilities of those communities signed a landmark agreement to provide for the additional capacity at the Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Village of Wind Point signed the agreement in February 2003. The signing of the “Racine Area Intergovernmental Sanitary Sewer Service, Revenue-Sharing, Cooperation and Settlement Agreement” paved the way for expansion of the treatment plant. The resulting project expanded the Utility’s ability to handle average day flow as well as wet weather flow at the plant and in the collection system. The cost of this expansion was approximately $85 million.

This expansion was completed in 2005. The expansion provided the ability to treat an average flow of 36 MGD, with a peak flow of 108 MGD through the plant itself. With the addition of a second EQ basin, the plant is able to treat a peak flow of 308 MGD, with 200 MGD of this through the EQ basins.

The most current upgrade, provided for addition of or improvement to many of the processes at the plant. Major additions included another EQ basin, a new screening building, additional primary clarifiers, the addition of an anaerobic digester, more final clarifiers, a new solids handling building, upgrades to plant power and the addition of UV Irradiation that allowed the utility to eliminate the use of gaseous chlorine.