The city of Whitefish is looking to secure funding needed for a planned upgrade to its aging wastewater treatment plant.

City Council Monday approved two grant applications applying for up to $875,000 in grants for the project that is estimated to cost in the range of $15 million to $20 million.

Scott Anderson, with Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers, said the city’s aging facility is not in compliance with state standards and needs to be upgraded.

“The system is old and it can’t meet the requirements of your new permit,” Anderson told City Council last month.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality in 2012 issued the city an administrative order on consent as the result of several violations of the city’s wastewater discharge permit. Last year the order was updated to incorporate a compliance plan detailing the completion dates that must be met in order to bring the treatment plant into compliance by November 2021.

To fund upgrades, the city is applying for grants and loans from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Renewable Resources Grant and Loan program, the Montana Department of Commerce Treasure State Endowment Program and the USDA Rural Development grant program. The rural development grant could provide up to 30 percent of the total cost of the project.

Public Works Director Craig Workman said once the city has grant money in-hand it will be able to really make progress on the project.

“The grants will enable us to move forward and meet our compliance plan,” he said.

Anderson said the two state grants can be applied for every two years and the rural development grant applications are accepted continuously.

“The way the project is scheduled out, we think it is feasible to apply to at least two different grant cycles to help with some of the cost,” Anderson said. “There are multiple low interest loan programs out there too.”

A preliminary engineering report on the facility is set to be completed this fall. A timeline for the compliance plan sets a deadline of February 2018 for plans to be submitted to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Construction of a new facility is estimated to be completed by May 1, 2021.

The various unit processes of the plant range in age from seven years in operation to more than 40 years. Some of the components are reaching the end of their life, Anderson noted.

A new discharge permit is renewed every five years and contains both federal and state water quality standards.

Anderson said the most recent permit contains several new standards not previously required, including a new ammonia limit, and a new total nitrogen limit in summer and winter.

“Unfortunately the lagoon system the city has doesn’t work well for ammonia and nitrogen,” he said. “They just don’t have the capability to do that and that’s why we’re looking at different types of wastewater plants.”

Anderson-Montgomery’s report on the facility provides an assessment of the area, an evaluation of the existing treatment plant and analysis of treatment alternatives. Based upon its analysis, it has provided three alternatives for the city to consider — a biolac advanced lagoon system, a sequencing batch reactor and an oxidation ditch. The different systems range in cost estimates of almost $16 million to just over $21 million.

In addition to the wastewater plant upgrade, the city has already started or plans to begin several measures to assist in the overall project. The city this summer is planning an infiltration and inflow mitigation project to reduce the amount of clean water entering the wastewater system, which causes the wastewater plant to be larger than necessary, according to Anderson. A nutrient reduction plan will also be completed examining other options for reducing nutrients, including nutrient trading and land application of cleaned wastewater.