City officials on Oct. 21 heard a progress report on the Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP) at the Southern California Logistics Airport, including a proposal to expand the domestic treatment capacity to handle projected growth through mid-century.

Consultants from Woodard & Curran told the Victorville City Council and assembled staff that the city’s IWTP currently treats both industrial and domestic flows and is approaching capacity. Chris McMahon, area operations manager for Woodard & Curran, summarized plant performance and operational improvements. “Our most important thing is safety first. We had another 365 days injury free at the plant this year,” McMahon said. He also reported an operational change that processed industrial solids on-site and saved the city about $472,000 in disposal costs.

The consultants said the city needs to increase domestic treatment capacity to keep pace with development. Scott Goldman, senior principal and overall project manager on the expansion, told the council the project team reviewed historical flow projections and the city’s 2016 sewer master plan and landed on a middle projection. “So we’re expanding from 1.5 MGD to basically 5 MGD on the domestic side,” Goldman said. He added that the industrial pretreatment capacity will remain unchanged in the near term.

Why it matters: the expansion is intended to accommodate projected city growth for at least 20 years under the new projection and to reduce or eliminate bypasses of treatment during peak conditions. Consultants described a staged design so the city can add capacity incrementally and avoid overbuilding; the long-range plan includes options to reach roughly 8 MGD of domestic capacity and up to 9 MGD total without creating stranded assets.

Technical plan and schedule: the team has advanced the design to about 30% and identified new structures and equipment needed to reach the 5 MGD domestic target: upgraded headworks, primary clarifiers, fine screens and pumping, a new UV disinfection train and an electrical support building. Greg Sands, who is leading technical design, said the approach emphasizes reusing existing infrastructure where possible and sizing foundations and conduit so future increments can be added later. The consultants said they expect to finish design and move to procurement, with an anticipated two-year construction window once procurement is complete.

Funding: the consultants said they are preparing a funding plan that will assess the city’s reserves, rate capacity and potential grant and loan programs. “We’ll look at funding programs that are available,” the team said, and structure the work to align with funding cycles and program restrictions.

Operational notes and risks: staff and consultants noted the plant has been generally compliant but reported one minor permit exceedance attributed to operator error; operators have received additional training and a SCADA programming change was made to reduce the chance of recurrence. The team also emphasized maintenance work, spare-equipment stocking (notably for membrane bioreactor blowers), and the need to limit bypasses to regional facilities while construction proceeds.

Next steps and follow-up: the city will review the 30% documents, continue coordination on funding options and then proceed toward final design and procurement. Consultants said phasing can be adjusted to provide incremental capacity benefits during construction. No formal action or appropriation was taken at the meeting.

Ending: City staff said they will return with further design documents and funding options as the 30% design is finalized and the team advances toward full design and procurement.