Wastewater Treatment Facility


Utility Manager: Stephen P. Compton

Telephone Number: 608 647-4448

Email Address: scompton@wppisys.org

FAX Number: 608 647-3718

Utility Superintendent: Todd Fischer

Email rcwwrc@mwt.net

Telephone Number: 608 647-3917

Office Hours: 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Monday - Friday

After Hours: Call 608 647-____ and follow call out message, or contact the Richland Center Police Department @ 608 647-____ and request that they notify us.

Facility Address:           HWY 14
Mailing Address: 450 South Main Street, Richland Center WI.


The City of Richland Center: City Utilities-Wastewater Utility is responsible for the operations, maintenance, and replacement of the lift stations, sanitary sewer system, and wastewater treatment facilities.

Sanitary Sewer System has (5) lift stations in residential areas to lift the wastewater to a high point on the sewer system, at which point it flows by gravity to the treatment facilities. Richland Center has a separate sanitary sewer system, comprised of 70 miles of piping ranging from 6-inch to 36-inch diameter. The City of Richland Center is responsible for the sewer mains only. The laterals, which are the piping from the main wye connector to the home, are the responsibility of the homeowner to maintain.

Wastewater Treatment Facility, during 1984, we upgraded to an Advanced Secondary Treatment Facility for a cost of $12.1 Million dollars. During 1991, we added a 1,500,000-gallon equalization facility at a cost of $2,000,000. During 1999, we added Phosphorus Removal for a cost of $600,000. Our facility has the capacity to treat 3,700,000 gallons of flow, 15,000 pounds of BOD (bio-chemical oxygen demand), and 7,600 pounds of TSS (Total Suspended Solids). We discharge into Pine River, which is a very small stream and part of the Pine River Basin. Therefore, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has set some very stringent standards that our effluent must meet. Those standards are summer limits of 10 mg/l BOD, 10 mg/l TSS, < 9ug/l Chlorine, 1 mg/l Phosphorus, 400 Fecal Coliform. Richland Center has a number of industries like, milk, cheese, whey drying, which are all wet type industries, a large percentage of our influent loading is generated by those industries.

Sewer Service Accounts:
a. Residential Customers:          3,641
b. Industrial Customers:          25
c. Commercial Accounts:           553
d. Public Authority:             37

Sewer Service Rates for all customers are as follows:
a. Flow Charge, $22.81 / 1,000 cubic feet (7,480 gallons)
b. BOD Surcharge in excess of 200 mg/l @ $0.36/pound
c. TSS Surcharge in excess of 250 mg/l @ $0.31/pound
d. Phosphorus Surcharge in excess of 8 mg/l @ $1.79 / pound
e. Fixed Quarterly Charge @ $13.34/ meter connection

The Wastewater Utility Staff consist of __ full time and two part time employees. Our facility operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our personnel are on call to respond 24 hours per day.

Deduct Meters, our community has a policy on deduct meters, whereas any customer that feels a significant amount of their water is not discharged into the sanitary sewer system, they can apply for a deduct meter. We allow a portable meter to be used for a one-time watering of a new yard. The application and meter rental is $35.00 per season. If you have in ground yard watering system, swimming pool, or water-cooled air conditioning, you must apply for a fixed meter permit. That application is $45.00 per year and requires the meter to be permanently plumbed.

Sewer Backups, Our facility has personnel on-call 24-hours per day, 7-days per week. If you experience a sewer backup in your basement, notify our department immediately at 608 647-____. Our personnel will come out and clean the sewer mains and notify you of the condition. If we do not find a problem in our sewer mains, we will notify you to call a plumber of your choice. Following this procedure may save you unnecessary cost of a plumber's call.

Contact Us: Email or (608) 647-3917
File last modified: 7/31/2005