TOWER-SOUDAN— It appears that recent work in these two communities to repair and replace old sewage lines and manholes is helping to reduce inflow and infiltration of ground and surface water into their jointly owned and operated sewage treatment system— and that’s creating new capacity for anticipated growth.
The current wastewater treatment system, comprised of three treatment ponds, is designed to treat up to 172,000 gallons per day, but the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency tries to limit communities’ capacity to no more than 85 percent of that total, which is 146,000 gallons daily in the case of the Tower-Breitung Waste Water Board, or TBWWB, which owns and operates the joint system.
New seasonal recreational vehicle parks in Tower and the prospect of additional new development at the city’s harbor and riverfront has raised concerns that the two communities could soon be straining the limits of its wastewater treatment capacity. As recently as 2019, the year after the city of Tower connected its municipally owned campground to the municipal system, the total wastewater flow reached its highest level by far in at least ten years, at an average of 154,000 gallons per day, or nearly 90 percent of the system’s designed capacity.
That forced TBWWB officials to begin seriously considering expanding its treatment capacity, a prospect that was expected to bring major upfront costs, extended and expensive debt service, and sharply higher operational costs.
Yet the latest numbers suggest the two communities may have more time than they had feared just a few years ago to implement an expansion.

Weather is key
The amount of inflow and infiltration of ground and surface water into the treatment system varies considerably year-to-year, based mostly on the weather. Wet years bring more infiltration, while dry years can yield significantly less. An analysis of ten years of climate data by the Timberjay confirms that it’s been a wet ten years, with a moisture surplus of 30.1 inches over the past decade. That’s a trend that’s consistent with the predictions of climate scientists, so it’s one that is likely to continue, at least in the longer term.
Wet conditions in 2019, when the year finished five inches above the long-term precipitation average, undoubtedly helped boost wastewater flows well above the comfort level. What’s more, the three-year average flow (2017-2019), which is the number that the MPCA typically considers, was running at an average of 143,333 gallons per day, less that 3,000 gallons below the safe level of 146,000 gallons per day.
But repairs and replacements of old infrastructure, which the city began again in earnest in 2020, appears to have helped lower wastewater flows, with a current three-year average of 114,000 gallons per day, suggesting capacity of more than 30,000 gallons per day.
Those numbers were helped significantly by two relatively dry years, 2020 and 2021, which experienced a combined precipitation deficit of just over six inches. In 2021, the wastewater system experienced its lowest flow in more than a decade, with an average of just 96,000 gallons per day. Yet those years were followed by one of the wettest years on record for Tower, including the wettest in at least a decade, with an annual total of 38.23 inches of precipitation, a whopping 10.15 inches above average. Wastewater flows jumped last year in response to the wet conditions, but only to 139,000 gallons per day, or well below the 154,000 gallons per day experienced in the previous wet year.

Work is paying off
The apparent gains in capacity appear to be tied to the work being done in both Tower and Soudan. “I think both communities have really proactively hit this hard,” said Matt Tuchel, who manages the wastewater facilities for the TBWWB. “They’ve spent upwards of half a million dollars on upgrades.” Tuchel cited the reconstruction of Tower’s Pine Street, which replaced a leaking manhole, and the replacement of old sewer lines near the Vermilion Park Inn in Soudan, as two recent projects that appear to have taken a noticeable bite out of the inflow and infiltration in the two communities. “Of course, it’s a never-ending job,” noted Tuchel.
The city also began a more concerted effort to televise the sewer lines with remote cameras to look for breaks that were allowing ground and surface water to infiltrate the system, thereby eating up critical wastewater capacity for water that doesn’t need treatment. The city had taken such steps in the past and had made progress on reducing infiltration from broken pipes and inflow by clamping down on direct connections of sump pumps to the sewer system. But the city had focused on other concerns for several years and its sewer infrastructure continued to deteriorate. Now, the city has a five-year plan in place to clean and then camera all of its sewer lines and three years into it, the impact has been noticeable. The contractor undertaking the work, Gheen-based J&R Wastewater, has found issues every time it visits town, according to Ben Velcheff, the city’s public works supervisor. The company was in Tower this past week, and Velcheff said they found several problem areas to address. “They found a lot of i and i,” said Velcheff, using the common shorthand for inflow and infiltration. Each time the company finds a problem, the public works staff deals with it, and the cumulative effects are showing up in the wastewater flow. “Slowly but surely, we’re making progress,” said Velcheff.

Continuing problems at the campground
The 2018 connection of the Hoodoo Point Campground, which has an old and suspect sewer collection infrastructure, continues to be one of the city’s biggest challenges when it comes to inflow and infiltration. Velcheff said that was readily apparent during the recent mid-April warm spell, when meltwater came streaming into the sewer system from the campground’s lift station. “We had two pumps running steady for several days last week,” he said. “It’s like we’re draining Lake Vermilion.” And that’s with the campground still closed for the season.
Tuchel agreed that the campground remains a challenge and he’s recommended additional camera work there to try to locate the breaks that are allowing so much water to infiltrate the system. “Is there a problem there? Absolutely,” said Tuchel.

More capacity for new development
Yet while the campground remains an ongoing challenge, the progress being made elsewhere appears to have given a new lease on life for development plans. “I would say the [TBWW] board would probably be favorable to new development at this point,” said Tuchel.