MONROE - Building for the year 2031, and maybe beyond, takes a lot of information when designing the $20 million expansion of the Monroe wastewater treatment plant.
The more the better, said Jay Kemp, project manager with AECOM, the Madison firm hired to develop the plan.
Planning for the new expansion is "about a third of the way done," Kemp told members of the Board of Public Works, meeting Monday at the plant. It includes the condition of the current facility and projected population growth.
What is needed now, said Kemp and George Thompson, wastewater utility superintendent, is information from local companies on their future expansion plans and from prospective companies on their future plans to come to Monroe.
Plans for growth have to be identified now, so the plant can handle the additional industrial capacity in the future, they said.
"We can build up to (only) five percent of reserve capacity" for undesignated use, Kemp said.
Including plans for expansions and incoming companies' needs "stretches the five percent undesignated reserve capacity," said Thompson.
AECOM has already sent surveys to local companies. Pam Christopher, director of Monroe Chamber of Commerce, and Anna Schramke, director of Green County Economic Development Corporation, said they are helping to encourage the companies to complete the survey.
The Board of Public Works asked Christopher and Schramke to develop a list of prospective companies interested in moving to Monroe. The list is to be submitted to the board and Thompson by Sept. 1 for review and inclusion in the design plans.
"What we want to know, are there companies out there who are interested in coming to Monroe, but we don't have the capacity for them?" Thompson asked.
Christopher plans to talk to the Wisconsin Department of Commerce about state-wide recruitment plans. New companies, often "cluster around each other," when they come into a state, she added.
Christopher said the "best way to go is talking to local companies, find out who their suppliers are and recruit them here."
Schramke said Green County has not been getting a lot of prospects, but she added that the county is in a good position relative to its proximity to larger urban markets, such as Chicago.
Being able to handle wastewater from new businesses could be a good marketing tool for Monroe.
"I've seen where treatment plants can attract business," Kemp said.
Unknown factors that will affect the facility's capacity are hard to determine, said Mayor Bill Ross.
"With the economy the way it is, it's hard for any municipality, and especially little municipalities, to know what to plan for," he said.
Monroe already has a concentration of food industries, including cheese and beer, and other "wet" industries, such as ethanol, which are high producers of wastewater.
The current facility processes an average of two million gallon per day, but peak use has reached more than three times that rate during some hours. But built in the 1980s, the plant is reaching its capacity, according to Thompson.
"We are up against our capacity limits. There's no room for accidental discharges," he said. "Some pieces (of the facility) are aging and at the end of their life."
Thompson said "bits and pieces" of the facility will be retained, retrofitted or repurposed, and new pieces will be added.
The new additions to the plant are expected to remain within the present working area of the facility.
The more the better, said Jay Kemp, project manager with AECOM, the Madison firm hired to develop the plan.
Planning for the new expansion is "about a third of the way done," Kemp told members of the Board of Public Works, meeting Monday at the plant. It includes the condition of the current facility and projected population growth.
What is needed now, said Kemp and George Thompson, wastewater utility superintendent, is information from local companies on their future expansion plans and from prospective companies on their future plans to come to Monroe.
Plans for growth have to be identified now, so the plant can handle the additional industrial capacity in the future, they said.
"We can build up to (only) five percent of reserve capacity" for undesignated use, Kemp said.
Including plans for expansions and incoming companies' needs "stretches the five percent undesignated reserve capacity," said Thompson.
AECOM has already sent surveys to local companies. Pam Christopher, director of Monroe Chamber of Commerce, and Anna Schramke, director of Green County Economic Development Corporation, said they are helping to encourage the companies to complete the survey.
The Board of Public Works asked Christopher and Schramke to develop a list of prospective companies interested in moving to Monroe. The list is to be submitted to the board and Thompson by Sept. 1 for review and inclusion in the design plans.
"What we want to know, are there companies out there who are interested in coming to Monroe, but we don't have the capacity for them?" Thompson asked.
Christopher plans to talk to the Wisconsin Department of Commerce about state-wide recruitment plans. New companies, often "cluster around each other," when they come into a state, she added.
Christopher said the "best way to go is talking to local companies, find out who their suppliers are and recruit them here."
Schramke said Green County has not been getting a lot of prospects, but she added that the county is in a good position relative to its proximity to larger urban markets, such as Chicago.
Being able to handle wastewater from new businesses could be a good marketing tool for Monroe.
"I've seen where treatment plants can attract business," Kemp said.
Unknown factors that will affect the facility's capacity are hard to determine, said Mayor Bill Ross.
"With the economy the way it is, it's hard for any municipality, and especially little municipalities, to know what to plan for," he said.
Monroe already has a concentration of food industries, including cheese and beer, and other "wet" industries, such as ethanol, which are high producers of wastewater.
The current facility processes an average of two million gallon per day, but peak use has reached more than three times that rate during some hours. But built in the 1980s, the plant is reaching its capacity, according to Thompson.
"We are up against our capacity limits. There's no room for accidental discharges," he said. "Some pieces (of the facility) are aging and at the end of their life."
Thompson said "bits and pieces" of the facility will be retained, retrofitted or repurposed, and new pieces will be added.
The new additions to the plant are expected to remain within the present working area of the facility.