Testing of the wastewater treatment plant’s new systems is off to a bubbling start. On Tuesday, the city began testing the new aerators. That night they filled the aeration basin with treated effluent, and we will began a 5-day aeration test Wednesday afternoon. The next step will be to start treating wastewater with the new aerators.
The $18 million dollar bond-funded project to put in eight new units to defuse the air and convert the eight existing units to a more efficient aeration system is expected to be completed in late December, according to City Manager Marc Maxwell. The process uses microbes in the waste water to eat the solids. A solution is used to keep the oxygenation right so they stay alive and continue to do their job.
Things were bubbling along Wednesday according to schedule, but will be monitored for five days to make sure everything is online and remains quiet so as not to disturb neighbors.
The update was needed to keep up with the amount of sewage concentration handled daily. The monitored levels were too high per liter of total suspended solid last fall. That is down significantly already. The new process will continue to improve that, creating what Maxwell calls a model plant.
The plan is once the eight old units are off line, to get the new ones online, then retrofit the older units to double the work potential.
Remaining work at the facility includes street construction, sidewalks and grass.
