1987-05-19 Special Moss on Ponds WWTF
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SPECIAL MEETING
or THE
CITY COUNCIL
MAY 19, 1987
A speclal meetlng of the Albertvllle Clty Councll was called to order
by Mayor Loretta Roden. Members present lncluded Gary Schwenzfeler,
Donatus Vetsch, Don Cornel1us and Bob Braun. Others present 1nlcuded
Maureen Adnrews, Thor Meyer, and Ken L1ndsay.
The purpose of the meet1ng was to d1SCUSS the problem w1th the moss
growlng 1n the ponds out at the wastewater treatment fac111ty. There
1S some concern that the eng1neer's off1ce 1S not correct1ng the problem.
Thor expla1ned to the Counc11 that he had talked to Chuck and that they
were mov1ng slowly on correct1ng the problem so that they can see what
lS happenlng. They want to be sure that whatever lS done w1th the problem
that lt lS the best Solut10n.
Below 1S some of the d1Scusslon ra1sed dur1ng the meetlng regard1ng
a klll and the characterlst1cs of the moss:
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-The posslpl1ty of 100k1ng at mak1ng a complete k1ll would most llkely
lnclude a harvestlng of the llv1ng moss and a chem1cal klll on the remalnlng
moss left behlnd 1n the ponds.
-The conflgurat10n of the moss changes dally, depend1ng on weather,
wlnd and water actlv1ty. An example was glven, that two days before
Cell 13 had 50% coverage on the serface.
-A quest10n was asked what would be done wlth the remalns-of a harvest
or a klll, because when the moss drles out 1t becomes paper thln and
wlll fly around.
-What effects w11l a chemlcal klll have on the ponds. It was agreed
that most llkely some of the test wlll lncrease as the result of the
chemlcals but that over a per10d of days would decrease back down to
normal levels.
-Ken stated tha he was concern about the PH test belng hlgh. Thor stated
that the PH level could be hlgh because of the moss but other ltems
could effect lt, such as Ilme ln the rlp-rap.
-Does the C1ty want to havest the moss or do we want to let lt decay
on lts own.
-W1II the problem cure ltself and does the Clty have tlme to take the
walt and see approach.
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-What happens 1f the Clty takes a slow approach to resolvlng the problem.
Would we have a better chance a havlng a better klll If we walt untll
after the next dlscharge?
-Ken explalned that when the OHM was put lnto the ponds that the moss
adverse effect on 1t, the PH levels went up beyond the approved
f d c e had to be dela ed a cou Ie
SPECIAL MEETING
PAGE 2
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days before the d~scharge could occur.
-It was po~nted out that th~s ~s the f~rst year of operat~on for the
ponds, and as a result the ponds take a per~od dur~ng wh~ch they balance
themselves out.
-Thor c~ted an example of a problem w~th the Dassel proJect. Dassels
ponds had a orange colored ~nsect that l~ved on the surface of the
water. Each pond has ~ts own balanc~ng per~od and problems that are
worked out over a per~od of t~me.
-A quest~on was asked regard~ng where the Dassel proJect got ~ts water
source from. Thor ~nformed the Counc~l that the source was a near-by
lake, as was the C~ty of Albertv~lle.
-Gary Schwenzfe~er stated that he felt that "swamp" was a better f1tt~ng
name for the water source used. (DNR class~f1es Mud lake as a "Natural
Env~ronment lake", the most restr~ct~ve lake catagory.)
-It was agreed that harvest~ng the moss would be an expens~ve undertak~ng,
even though f~rm f~gures have been presented to the Counc~l. Meyer-Rohl~n
sa~d that they would have to look at gett~ng the cost f~gures together
for the Counc~l and for that reason Chuck was plann~ng on gOlng down
to the lemma Company wh~ch has the harvestlng equ~pment to could be
used to get rld of the moss.
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-Ken state that h~s maln concern IS gett~ng r~d of the moss, e~ther allve
by harvestlng or ~n the case of a klll what happens to the dead moss.
-Gary Schwnzfe~er state that he does not feel that the C~ty should be
~nvolved w~th any of the cost ~ncurred wlth the clean up.
-The questlon was ralsed why the water came from the la~e ~nstead of
the local water source. Thor state Slnce water was not on the north
s~de of the freeway that there was not a local water source and hav~ng
the water hauled ~n would be to cost proh~blted. Donatus stated that
he thought that at one t~me there had been a plan to slnk a well to
draw the water from for the water balance test. Thor sa~d that he was
not aware of thls because of the s~ze the well would have to be ~n order
to obta~n enough water for the water balance test.
-Maureen read from the spec~f~cat~on stat~ng that the water could come
"from the mun~c~pal water supply systen at flow rates acceptable to
the C~ty or from a nearby waterway." Thor po~nted out aga~n that ~n
other wastewater treatment fac~l~ty construct~on proJects that water
was drawn from the "nearby waterway".
-Again It was asked who do the cost of correct~ng the problem fall back
on. Thor sa~d that he could not answer that quest~on at th~s t~me.
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-Thor then stressed that at some t~me down the l~ne that malntenance
must take over on the operat~on of the ponds. Gary Schwenzfe~er agreed
but feels that thls problem has been present s~nce day one and should
not be the C~ty's problem.
-It was asked ~f we can prove that the moss came from the lake or could
~t have come from another source. ThlS was In regards to the responslbll~ty
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SPECIAL MEETING
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of the general contractor.
-Thor felt that Meyer-Rohl1n would know after the 20th when Chuck gets
back from meet1ng w1th the company that could harvest the moss.
-Ken stated that h1s major concern was that he was fal11ng beh1nd schedule
and would not be able to d1scharge for the second t1me th1S spr1ng.
Thor p01nted out that the system was des1gn so that 1t would only have
to be d1scharge tW1ce a year. Ken stated that the ponds may not be
able to handle the 1ntake alond w1th the ra1ns. Thor assured Ken that
ra1n amounts are factored 1nto the des1gn of the ponds.
After th1s d1scuss10n 1t was agreed that the C1ty'S best opt10n would
be to take care of the problem dur1ng th1s cycle and not wa1t any longer.
The next 1ssue ra1sed was should the C1ty harvest f1rst, make a chem1cal
k1ll and then try to harest the dead mater1al aga1n. It was agreed
tp walt and f1nd out what 1nformat10n Chuck gets from the Lemma Company
before any th1ng lS done.
Aga1n lt was stressed that every pond 1S d1fferent, therefore treatment
1S not always the same. Ken stated that at the pond school that the
lnstructors felt that the moss was most 11kely caus1ng the problems
1n the ponds.
It was agreed that key lssues that needed to be resolved are:
1. What type of a t1me frame lS the C1ty Look1ng at.
2. Who 1S g01ng to pay for the cost 1ncurred.
3. What 1S the best method for gett1ng r1d of th e moss problem.
In add1t10n to the problem w1th the moss, Ken brought up the follow1ng
1tems that are caus1ng some add1t10nal problems at the ponds.
1. The Pontoon's generat1ng system 1S to small and a portable
system needs to 1nstalled.
2. That the pump was 1mproperly des1gned and 1mplerers may have
been shaved to much.
3. The Sl1degates need to be corrected to that Ken can determ1ne
how much water 1S g01ng through the syste.
4. That there are alot of other 11ttle th1ngs that are wrong
and that t1me 1S runnlng out.
There was no other bus1ness relat1ng to the ponds so the meet1ng was
adjourned. The mot10n to adjourn was made by Donatus Vetsch and seconded
by Don Cornel1us. All were 1n favor and teh mot10n carr1ed.
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