The Future of Wastewater Treatment Series: Madison, Wisconsin

This article is part of our feature on the future of wastewater in the U.S.’s fastest growing metro areas. We’re using the Transcend Design Generator to automatically build, expand, or upgrade regional wastewater treatment systems in each of these regions.

In Madison, Wisconsin, the major utility responsible for wastewater treatment is the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, or MadSewer, as we’ll humorously refer to them. MadSewer’s website (madsewer.org) is impressively informative, providing a step-by-step overview of their treatment process and serving as a fantastic inspiration for those looking to design an engaging wastewater website.

Over the last few months we’ve been analyzing the top 100 fastest-growing counties in the US, assessing their wastewater treatment needs, and proposing innovative solutions to address the challenges that come with such growth. Dane County, Wisconsin, home to the city of Madison, ranks 76th on this list, making it a prime candidate for examination.

The Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant is MadSewer’s main facility, with a capacity of 36 MGD and serving 407,000 people in the area, which roughly corresponds to Dane County’s population. It is anticipated that the plant will need to serve around half a million people in the near future. Given their current gallon per capita per day usage rate of 88, this population increase would necessitate raising the plant’s capacity from 36 MGD to 44 MGD.

Rather than altering the existing Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is already extraordinary in its design and operation, we propose constructing a new, smaller IFAS (Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge) plant nearby. This new facility would incorporate similar technologies, such as primary clarifiers and UV disinfection, to ensure consistent treatment quality and efficiency across both plants as they work together to address the growing wastewater treatment needs of Madison’s expanding population.

If you’d like to see the full design package for this treatment plant, send us a note at info@transcendinfra.com or contact us here and a member of our team will share it with you!

If you enjoyed this piece you may also want to read about the future of wastewater in Madison.