OTTUMWA — Grit. Bob Bruett sees too much of it at the city’s Water Pollution Control Facility, also known as the sewage treatment plant.

But the current Ottumwa City Council and future councils may need plenty of “true grit” to fix the city’s infrastructure problems.

Bruett, WPCF’s superintendent, said the grit — which is sand or other tiny, hard particles — gets past the plant’s first screen, which keeps larger items from entering all of the plant’s systems.

“The first screen has never worked right,” he said.

The WPCF is supposed to have a second screen but doesn’t. That’s only one of the items that has to change to make the facility compliant with Iowa Department of Natural Resources regulations for clean water.

At this week’s council meeting, Bruett and Jim Rasmussen, a project engineer and senior project manager with Howard R. Green & Co., Des Moines, presented a 20-year plan for improvements at the facility.

Rasmussen said the study began two years ago.

“We took a thorough look at the plant so the city didn’t have to just jump in,” he said. “We have prepared a long-term plan for the facility.”

Rasmussen and the council had copies of the plan and the spiral-bound document was nearly two inches thick. He said both Howard R. Green staff members and the WPCF staff prepared three tiers of improvements.

Each tier lists what needs to be done, the cost, funding sources and a target implementation date. The improvements are spread over a 20-year period.

“The first tier of recommended improvements focuses on safety and other improvements needed to meet the regulatory requirements,” Rasmussen said.

In the first tier, grit-handling improvements were estimated at $935,000 and the cost will be paid through sewer funds and the State Revolving Fund Program, he said.

Items targeted for completion in 2008, the estimated cost and funding source are: Installing brownwater pumps, $10,000, sewer funds; primary clarifier sludge pumping, $30,000, sewer funds; and WPCF air system and aerobic digester improvements, $1.2 million, sewer funds and SRFP.

Clarifiers, air system and aerobic digester improvements refer to the “bugs” that break down sewage and the system that keeps them “happy” so they’ll continue to feed.

The second tier of recommended improvements relates to those needed to improve operational reliability and reduce critical maintenance.