Policy 10: Regional Wastewater Operations and Finance Policy

The region's investments and operation of water resource recovery infrastructure and related assets are built, operated, maintained, and rehabilitated in a sustainable, efficient, and economical way, considering current and future challenges. Service fees and charges to operate the system are based on regional cost of services and rules adopted by the Met Council.

The Met Council conducts its regional wastewater system operations as sustainably as possible. Sustainable operations relate not only to wastewater treatment but also to increasing energy efficiency and using renewable energy sources, reducing air pollutant emissions, and reducing, reusing, and recycling solid wastes. Our efforts to harvest energy from wastewater effluent, use biosolids as fertilizer, and use wastewater effluent for secondary uses show our increasing capacity to recover resources that provide additional benefits to our operations and region. Therefore, our wastewater treatment plants have been rebranded as water resource recovery facilities, to reflect that we do more than only treat wastewater.

The regional wastewater system is composed of more than 630 miles of interceptor sewer mains, 229 metering stations, 60 lift stations, and 9 water resource recovery facilities. Environmental Services, on average, invests more than $100 million per year to maintain, replace, and expand wastewater treatment infrastructure. It is critical to maintain and rehabilitate the system in a timely manner to defer the need for costly repairs or premature expansion. User fees cover the entire cost of wastewater operations as well as the cost to maintain, replace, and upgrade the physical infrastructure of the system. The Waste Discharge Rules guide our fee collection structure which is based on what it costs to provide service. Those fees support economical development and help us meet our customer level of service.

Desired outcomes

  1. Maintenance and rehabilitation efforts in wastewater infrastructure result in long-term use of existing systems, maximizing our investments, and safeguarding sustainable water.
  2. Water resource recovery infrastructure investments are cost-effective and support sustainability.
  3. Additional sewer capacity for communities is timed to be consistent with the Wastewater System Plan and a community’s approved comprehensive plan.
  4. Customer communities pay fees for wastewater services based on the regional cost of service adopted by the Met Council.
  5. Private wastewater treatment systems remain up to code and adhere to Minnesota Administrative Rules 7080 through 7083, reducing the potential for negative environmental impacts or premature expansion of the regional wastewater system.

Actions

Actions are grouped under the categories of Partner, Plan, and Provide to better tell the story of how policy produces results.

Partner

  1. Work with communities with failing subsurface sewage treatment systems or other private wastewater treatment systems to connect to the regional wastewater system at the community’s expense if in conformance with the Met Council’s Wastewater System Plan, the community’s comprehensive sewer plan, regional land use policy, and other Met Council policies.
  2. Provide informational resources to communities and private residents if their subsurface sewage treatment systems and other private wastewater treatment systems fail. Communities that permit the construction and operation of those systems within their communities are responsible for ensuring that these systems are installed, maintained, managed, and regulated consistent with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency rules and Minnesota Administrative Rules 7080 through 7083.
  3. Cost-sharing between the Met Council and a local governmental unit may be used when construction of regional wastewater facilities provides additional local benefits for an incremental increase in costs.
  4. Advocate on behalf of Rural Area communities to seek technical and financial assistance to maintain continued local wastewater treatment services.
  5. Continue efforts to simplify and improve the Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) program and its communication to customers.
  6. Partner with Met Council Community Development to update the Publicly Assisted Housing/Conservation SAC fee reduction policy to better reflect publicly subsidized affordable housing developments.
  7. Explore with our Community Development division and community stakeholders financial support or other resources to reduce the Publicly Assisted Housing/Conservation SAC fee cost for deeply affordable housing projects.
  8. Provide industries with incentives to pretreat wastewater to reduce its strength or support water reuse opportunities.
  9. Advocate for and support partnerships with industries to encourage wastewater reuse for both business growth and environmental benefit.

Plan

  1. Preserve Met Council’s regional wastewater system assets through effective operation, maintenance, programmatic assessment of condition and capacity, and capital investment.
  2. All fees and charges necessary to equitably construct, operate and maintain the regional wastewater system shall be established by the Regional Administrator or Met Council members as described in the Waste Discharge Rules.
  3. Seek customer input prior to and give at least 90-days’ notice of any material changes in the design of charges.
  4. Perform community-based displacement risk assessments when planning Met Council infrastructure improvements.
  5. Within Met Council operations, maximize energy efficiency, energy recovery, and pursue renewable energy sources, such as solar power generation, thermal energy recovery, and new technologies as they become proven and economical.
  6. Seek opportunities for improved processing, reuse, and energy generation from biosolids processing.
  7. Interceptors and related facilities that are no longer needed to serve the regional wastewater system will be reconveyed, abandoned, or sold to the appropriate local governmental unit, pursuant to related statutes. The following conditions are required for the transfer to be considered:
    1. An existing interceptor (or segment of it) is no longer necessary to the regional wastewater system when it serves:
      1. Primarily as a local trunk sewer; or
      2. As a local trunk sewer that ultimately conveys 200,000 gallons per day or less from an upstream community; or
      3. A local trunk sewer that conveys only stormwater.
    2. Unless,
      1. The interceptor has been designed to provide wastewater service to all or substantially all the upstream community; or
      2. The flow from the upstream community is greater than 50% of the total forecasted flow at any part within the interceptor.

Provide

  1. Implement and enforce the Met Council’s Waste Discharge Rules for the regional wastewater system.
  2. Septage, biosolids, leachate, and other hauled liquid waste will be accepted at designated sites, provided that the waste can be efficiently and effectively processed and not adversely impact the conveyance and treatment system.
  3. Sewer availability charges will be uniform within the urban area based on capacity demand classes of customers and the SAC Procedure Manual. Sewer availability charges for a Rural Center will be based on the reserve capacity and debt service of facilities specific to the Rural Center.
  4. Evaluate level of service for all customer types to address needed enhancements or availability of wastewater services like liquid and vactor (sanitary sewer debris collected by vacuum truck) waste disposal sites.

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