WRF HISTORY

The $165 million Des Moines Integrated Community Area (ICA) Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant is more than a collection of state-of-the-art technologies. It represents long-term commitment and cooperation by the citizens of central Iowa to protect the state’s natural resources.

The 97 million gallon per day (MGD) wastewater treatment facility comprises more than half the $255,371,622 cost of the 15-year water pollution abatement program, one of the largest public works projects in Iowa history. State and federal grants funded just over 70% of the program cost. The program also includes interceptor sewers, equalization basins, and lift stations linking the communities in the ICA.

Des Moines original facility was designed in the 1930s (WPA) to treat 30 mgd. Eight expansions increased the facility’s capacity to a peak flow of 50 mgd but the Clean Water Act of 1972, created new demands and standards that the old facility couldn’t meet.

In response to the new demands and standards a water quality management plan was prepared for the Des Moines area. With this in mind fourteen communities got together in 1979 and this is how the Wastewater plant we have today came about. These communities include the cities of Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Clive, Des Moines, Johnston, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale, West Des Moines, and Windsor Heights; portions of Polk and Warren counties; the Urbandale-Windsor Heights Sanitary Sewer District; and the Urbandale Sanitary Sewer District.

It was more cost-effective to build around the existing plant so the new processes and equipment were woven into the old plant without interrupting the operation of the existing facility. After the seven years of construction (1984-1991), the facility’s peak capacity increased from 50 mgd to nearly 200 mgd.