WCMA Wastewater Technology Field Day: Grande Cheese, Chilton, WI

WCMA invites member wastewater specialists and operations and environmental leadership to join an educational field day, Tuesday, September 15, 2026 in Chilton, WI. Grande Cheese Company has generously offered to open for touring its fully renovated wastewater treatment plant at the expanded Chilton cheesemaking operation.

Following lunch and educational programming, attendees can explore in-person the new treatment technology at Chilton.  The treatment plant has online COD diversion to high or low strength equalization tanks, giving the system greater operational flexibility and prevention of biological upsets. COD is then treated in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AeMBR) that pairs activated sludge treatment with ultrafiltration membrane skids for near-zero total suspended solids effluent. Phosphorus removal happens both biologically, via a Side Stream RAS Fermentation (SSRF) design, and chemically, with chemical dosing applied after the membrane bioreactor for precise low-phosphorus control without disrupting biological performance. This post-membrane bioreactor polishing step also cuts chemical usage and sludge generation by avoiding overdosing.

Hosts from Grande Cheese and Complete Filtration Resources will be on hand to lead tours and describe the technologies in place.