The City of Post Falls has started work on a $14.8 million upgrade project at its wastewater treatment plant, says Andrew Arbini, the city’s utilities project manager.

The project includes constructing a new headworks facility, two equalization tanks, and a pump station, Arbini says, adding it also includes improvements to its solids loading equipment.

TML Construction Inc., of Hayden, is the contractor on the project, and Boise-based J-U-B Engineers Inc., which has a Coeur d’Alene office, designed it.

The project is scheduled to be completed in about a year.

The Post Falls water reclamation facility is located at 2002 W. Seltice Way, just north of Interstate 90 in west Post Falls.

TML Construction has erected concrete-masonry-unit walls for the headworks structure and has started work on the interior, Arbini says.

The headworks removes trash, rags, grit, and dirt at the initial stage of treatment. The upgrade will allow for future growth and will improve gravity flow through the facility, he says.

The contractor also has poured concrete walls for the pump-station structure, which also will be the control center for new equalization tanks, Arbini says.

Looking ahead, work will include constructing equalization tanks and a complex piping system to connect the existing plant to the project area.

Two new equalization tanks will be 90 feet in diameter with a capacity of 800,000 gallons each.

The tanks will help even flows throughout the day, Arbini says.

The heaviest flows into the plant peak in the morning and early evening. If the flow is uneven, it has an adverse effect on the biological process, he says.

Equalization allows the plant to pump wastewater from the tanks during the low-flow times of the day to keep flows even, Arbini says, adding that the plant handles 2.5 million gallons of wastewater a day.

The project also includes equipment that will help reduce odors at the plant.

“We’ll construct a 100-cubic-yard solids hopper that will benefit odor control, because (biosolids) won’t be as exposed to the atmosphere,” he says. “They will be contained in a hopper and loaded onto the transport truck.”