In addition to its ongoing daily work, Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) engages in rigorous planning to meet capacity needs due to growth, maintain existing infrastructure, save energy through new technologies, and improve treatment standards.
Growth and maintenance
The Met Council annually adopts a six-year Capital Improvement Program that describes projects and estimated costs in detail.
Energy conservation and renewable energy
Energy use is a major expense for MCES – costing approximately $15 million per year. It is also our leading source of carbon emissions. Managing our energy use helps us keep costs to rate payers fair and reasonable and reduce our contribution to climate change.
We manage our energy use and costs by: 1) Pursuing energy efficiency in our treatment processes and buildings, 2) Investing in renewable energy resources, and 3) Recovering energy from our treatment processes.
More about energy conservation and renewable energy initiatives.
Metro Plant solids management facility plan
The Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant (Metro Plant) is located three miles southeast of downtown Saint Paul. It treats 180 million gallons of wastewater every day for 66 communities and processes 850 wet tons of solids every day for 73 communities. The Metro Plant needs additional solids processing capacity to preserve existing wastewater treatment plant infrastructure and serve regional population growth. MCES plans to construct a fourth incinerator and renew existing incineration facilities, as the most cost-effective and sustainable way to meet the region’s wastewater needs. More about the fourth incinerator project.
Sewer planning and construction updates
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As part of day-to-day operations, staff are engaged in dozens of ongoing projects – both large and small – to plan, build and rehabilitate various sewers, lift stations, odor control facilities, and other compoenents of the wasetewater collection and treatment system.
Agency staff regularly host public information meetings, hearings and announcements to inform interested citizens about MCES work underway in the community, as detailed in the sewer planning and construction project updates.