January 2005

MAINE

Ellsworth Sewage Plant Needs Upgrade
The city's substandard wastewater treatment plant is expected to get some much-needed help in the next few weeks in the form of a new superintendent and possibly some federal grant money, according to city officials. The city likely will also find out in the next month what kind of consent agreement the state will impose on Ellsworth for repeated untreated wastewater overflows into the Union River.

Ron Hidu, senior project manager with Bangor engineering firm Woodard & Curran, said recently that specifics of the consent agreement could affect the city's immediate plans for fixing problems at the 28-year-old Water Street plant. Woodard & Curran has been functioning as the plant's superintendent since July, when personnel changes at the plant left the city without a superintendent for the facility.

The agreement will be the culmination of repeated diluted sewage overflows into the Union River, which usually occur during rainstorms. In late 2003, more than 500,000 gallons of untreated wastewater escaped into the river through an unsanctioned overflow pipe at the plant, which according to officials cannot be closed or removed until the city expands the plant's overflow capacity.

The city has applied for a federal Community Development Block Grant of $500,000 that would be used to help alleviate odor problems along Water Street and water infiltration on Surry Road, according to Hidu. He said that since last May, when lightning struck a digester tank at the plant, the smell of sewage has been more noticeable in the neighborhood around the facility.

If the city gets the grant, about $300,000 will be spent on upgrading the digester tanks by converting them from an anaerobic system to an aerobic system, which is easier to operate and to regulate, according to Hidu. The new process should reduce the plant's oil costs but a new air ventilation system will have to be put in place, he said. About $100,000 would be spent on installing the new ventilation and odor-control systems, possibly by the end of next summer, Hidu said.

Woodard & Curran also is working on a comprehensive plant evaluation, which should indicate whether the city should invest even more money to modernize the entire existing plant or instead should build a new plant at another location. The existing plant must be upgraded somewhat because building a new plant would take five to six years - too long to permit the Water Street facility's substandard operations to continue, according to Hidu.

Though two of the plant's five rotating bacteria contactors, large horizontally mounted cylinders that mix waste-eating bacteria with sewage, were out of commission last summer, all five now are working properly, Hidu said. He said one of these units and other pieces of equipment may well be upgraded in the next couple of years.

Ellsworth City Planner Michele Gagnon said last week that in addition to the $500,000 grant, the city would be required to contribute a minimum of a 25 percent match of its own funds. If it gets the grant, Ellsworth would budget $137,000 of its own money for plant improvements, she said.

The city should find out before the end of January whether it will receive the federal money, Gagnon said.

MARYLAND

Public Works Adds New Items to Ocean City’s Odor Control Project
New items were introduced to the mayor and City Council recently that would likely increase the estimated bids regarding the odor control project at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Public Works Director Hal Adkins updated the City Council on the project and also presented a list of items to them that are important for maintaining the plant.

Within the past year, the City Council passed two funding resolutions for the Odor Control Project – one in December 2003 for $3.49 million and another in July 2004 for $2.5 million. Their combined value is about $5.99 million and, according to Adkins, these new additions are staying within the funding limits of the two resolutions.

The following items have been added to the original scope of the project:

• Upgrade wet well electrical: Pumping station wet wells can contain potentially explosive gases and currently they do not comply with code requirements.

• Generator room demolition: A generator currently housed in a small room attached to the Influent Building is no longer needed. By removing this generator, an “ideal location” is created for a new carbon absorption odor control unit.

• Drying bed odor control: The existing bed, which is described as an open air pit, generates foul odors. Public Works wants to install a counteractive spray type odor control system.

• Sludge tank odor control: A chemical reaction occurs in this tank that emits an obnoxious odor. A filter unit will be installed to remove these odors.

• Influent building dock replacement: The loading dock needs to be reconstructed because it has crumbled and settled due to an improper foundation.

The City Council unanimously agreed that these additions to the odor control project were necessary for the maintenance of the plant.

MASSACHUSETTS

$150,000 Needed for Sewer Work
The Mayor of Chicopee, Richard R. Goyette, will present the Board of Aldermen with three major appropriation requests for a total of $150,000 at the first meeting of 2005 for Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades as well as sewer/pipeline repairs in the downtown area. All three orders from the mayor represent requests from the Board of Sewer Commissioners and its chairman Fred Goehring.

One is a $50,000 appropriation from the sewer surplus account to begin replacing the fabric odor-control covers with new 25-year airtight fiberglass covers. "The fabric control covers at the treatment plant are nearing the end of their 10-year life. These covers, while not eliminating the problem, have greatly reduced the odors in neighboring homes. In order to provide for a more long-term solution, I propose to replace two of the eight covers each year. ... When completed, the new covers will provide improved odor restrictions and longer life," said Goehring.

Goehring said fiberglass covers cost about $90,000 per tank with plant personnel doing the installation. In order to purchase two covers and install them for spring, additional funds are needed in the account, he said.

A separate financial transfer of $50,000 will also be presented by the mayor to cover sewer repairs. Goehring said another section of the 60-inch combined sewer overflow/drain line at the end of Exchange Street collapsed, causing a 15- to 17-foot deep sinkhole. A contractor was called to do the work due to the size and depth of the damage, and at the same time a sewer at Hamel and Henry streets collapsed. These repairs will exhaust funds in the pipeline repair account and additional funds are needed.

The third order requesting a $50,000 transfer from the sewer surplus account is for masonry repairs on the aeration basin at the plant. This basin has been in continual operation since 1977, and the tank is showing external and internal wear, said Goehring.

"Repair of the expansion joints and some concrete cracking need attention before the work becomes a major problem. This tank provides the biological treatment of the wastewater in a pure oxygen environment. Due to the nature of the pure oxygen, only specialized materials and workers trained to work in a pure oxygen area can perform this work," Goehring said.

Additional funds are needed to complete the external repairs and make the work affordable, he said.

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Sturbridge Voters Petition for Study of WWTP
The last Town Meeting in Sturbridge should not open the floodgates for massive new development on the westshore of Cedar Lake, the selectmen chairman said recently. Voters gave town officials a green light to study laying sewer pipe under Woodside Circle, as well as an expansion of the town’s decades-old Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Although the Board of Selectmen has been divided on sewer issues in the past, with Chairman Arnold P. Wilson arguing for as little expansion as possible, the board voted unanimously to support a citizens’ petition to spend $7,500 to determine whether Woodside Circle needs a sewer system.

“Most of the houses are built up, and on existing wetlands,” said one Town Meeting voter familiar with the neighborhood. “On the east side of Woodside Circle, there are septic systems that are very close to Cedar Lake.”

Town Administrator James J. Malloy said the Board of Health has not recorded any septic failures on Woodside Circle, but is concerned about the number of times area septic systems have to be pumped. He added that the residents of the neighborhood overwhelmingly share that concern, despite the hookup and annual subscription costs associated with joining the town’s sewer system.

Some residents from other parts of town, however, needed convincing. David Barnicle argued that any sewer expansion would allow developers to add more homes to the area.

Jeff Tasse questioned whether Sturbridge still had sewer treatment capacity, after adding the Big Alum Lake sewer last year and the Brookfield Road-Tantasqua sewer in 2002. Selectman Charles T. Blanchard pointed out that Sturbridge still has excess capacity in its pass-through connection to the Southbridge sewer system. Those concerns might also be addressed in an upcoming $15,000 study of the Wastewater Treatment Facility, endorsed by Town Meeting voters with no debate last week. Wilson cautioned against assuming that the consultants would recommend increases in capacity, however.

“There is no conclusion in mind,” he said. “What we’re doing is looking at all aspects. The plant itself is getting up there in age.”

The treatment plant was built in the 1970s and 1980s, Wilson said. Malloy predicted last month that the study could recommend a brand-new facility, expansion of the present plant, or simply upgrades to the current equipment.
Wilson said the Board of Selectmen, which acts as the town’s sewer commission, would have authority over both sewer studies. He added that he expected to start the process “within the next few weeks.

MICHIGAN

Howell Wastewater Treatment Facility's Odor Affecting Nearby Businesses
The city has begun working to eliminate an odor problem at its wastewater treatment plant, which neighboring business owners say has gotten worse this year. The estimated cost of the improvements to the treatment plant is about $78,000. Recently, City Council members directed city staff to begin soliciting bids from companies for the work.

The improvements include covering what's called the screw pumps, which are three large pipes with drill-like screws that push waste coming up from the sewer into a treatment facility. The odors will then be filtered through a carbon canister. Actual construction of the improvements will likely happen sometime in early spring at the plant, located on Michigan Avenue.

The 60-year-old plant, which treats about 1.25 million gallons of sewage a day, stores the waste in three sludge tanks. Two or three times a year, haulers empty those tanks and carry away the nutrient-rich waste as fertilizer. The process releases a large amount of odor.

"We are going to talk with our sludge hauler about how we can come up with a mechanism to eliminate or prevent as much of the odors escaping as possible during that sludge removal process," Wilson said.

The city will consider other odor-control options for the wastewater treatment plant in about five years, when the plant undergoes an expansion, Wilson said.

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Romeo Wastewater Treatment Plant Gets $9.5 Million Expansion and Upgraded
Plans to upgrade and expand the Romeo Wastewater Treatment Plant got a boost in spring 2004 when the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued a permit permitting the village to start the project. After Bruce Township officials reversed a decision in the summer to not participate in the project, the village and township will share the cost of the $9.5 million project, which will begin in 2005.

A major issue discussed by the village council throughout 2004 included whether the village should sell some of the water that Romeo purchases from Detroit to Bruce and/or Armada townships. The townships seek to purchase water to serve industrial districts in the two communities.

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"Outstanding Resource” Designation Sought for Grand Traverse Bay
Environmentalists are asking local governments to help stop pollution discharges into Grand Traverse Bay by changing its designation to an Outstanding State Water Resource. Local governments would have to petition the director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for the designation. It would prohibit discharging wastewater of lower quality than is already there into the bay.

"Traverse City is already doing it, and we want other communities to follow its lead," John Nelson, baykeeper for The Watershed Center of Grand Traverse Bay, said recently.  "It's not anti-development, but it's going to cost more money."

Traverse City and nearby townships recently finished a $31 million expansion and upgrade to the wastewater treatment system that added a third level of treatment. The discharge now is clean enough to drink.

The proposed designation wouldn't affect any existing systems, but future expansions or new plants would require higher-level treatment, said Mike Stifler, DEQ district water bureau supervisor.

Suttons Bay, Elk Rapids and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians presently discharge into the bay. Those systems, including a new one planned for Suttons Bay, has just two levels of treatment. The water discharged is of lesser quality than bay water.

Tom Harrison, a Suttons Bay village council member, said going to a tertiary system would have almost doubled the cost of the new treatment plant. "As far as I was concerned, it was worth spending the extra money to get the best possible wastewater treatment system," Harrison said.

MONTANA

Great Falls Sewage Plant to Generate Electricity
A co-generation project that will convert gases produced during sewage treatment into electricity is in Great Falls' future. The proposal received the go-ahead recently when city commissioners unanimously authorized issuance of $5 million in revenue bonds to finance co-generation at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and extend sewer service to the Agri-Business Park, site of the International Malting Co. plant, which is scheduled to open in the spring.

According to a feasibility study by the Houston-based Veolia Water North America, the company that contracts to operate the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant, the $2,450,000 co-generation project will pay for itself over the 20-year life of the bonds. Veolia's preliminary report predicted the project could eliminate the annual cost of natural gas, about $44,000 a year at current rates. Predictions vary on how much of the projected $274,000 in electricity costs could be saved, depending on the type of system the city installs.

The recommended system would use an internal combustion generator to convert methane and other digester gases produced during waste treatment into electricity. It also would recover exhaust heat from the process to heat water for the digester and heat the building and potable water. Although more engineering needs to be done, City Manager John Lawton said the project's potential looks good.

Converting wind power will further boost the energy co-generation at the plant, he said. The goal is to achieve less dependence on outside utility suppliers, Lawton added. .

After the International Malting Co. plant begins operating, malting wastes will account for 10 to 11 percent of the daily load at the Great Falls plant.

Revenue bonds also will finance remaining costs of extending sewer service to the Agri-Business Park. Contracts have already been awarded for Phase 2 of the sanitary sewer line extension and lift station. COP Construction of Billings has a $1.4 million contract to build the 2.8-mile sewer main from the east side of the 10th Street Bridge to the Agri-Business Park. Sletten Construction of Great Falls is installing $328,230 worth of lift station equipment at the park under a $299,960 contract.

Sewer service charges paid by Ag Park industries will repay the bond money spent on extending service, according to Balzarini.

The malting plant has guaranteed a minimum volume of 1 million gallons of waste per day, she said. "Currently, the wastewater plant treats 8 to 9 million gallons of waste per day, so another 1 million gallons will mean a significant jump in revenues," she said.

OREGON

Charleston Sanitary District Gets Loan for New Wastewater Treatment Station

The Charleston Sanitary District has acquired a $354,000 loan from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to make up the bulk of funding for the projected $393,850 reconstruction of the district's Wastewater Pump Station No. 2. The district pumps local waste to Coos Bay's treatment plant in Barview. According to the release, district officials want a system in place that will not be prone to sewage overflows, which could have adverse impacts on local water quality and Charleston's shellfish industry.

Work is scheduled to begin in the spring when the existing structure, which is more than 35 years old, will be demolished and pumps, piping and controls for the new station will be installed. The construction is scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.

RHODE ISLAND

Nitrogen Reduction Needed in Woonsocket
After a $22 million overhaul in 2001, the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Woonsocket  may require another pricey fix to comply with a coming mandate to sharply reduce levels of nitrogen discharged into the Blackstone River, officials say. The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is poised to adopt a new regulation that would require the Cumberland Hill Road plant to reduce nitrogen levels by half, said Angelo Liberti, DEM's chief of surface water protection.

Woonsocket is one of four water treatment plants located near the Blackstone River or the upper Narragansett Bay that would be subject to the so-called "denitrification order," which currently exists only in draft form, said Liberti.

The goal is to reduce oxygen depletion in Narragansett Bay, especially near the confluence of the Seekonk and the Providence rivers. A fishkill in the bay last year led the General Assembly to pass a law calling for improvement in the oxygen levels in the state's coastal waters. Nitrogen is thought to play a key role in the decline of the coastal waters, because it stimulates the growth of algae, choking off oxygen in fragile marine ecosystems.

"The issue of addressing nitrogen has been on our radar screen since at least 1996," said Liberti. "But now there's this extra push from the legislature as well."

Nitrogen is a byproduct of the decomposition of human waste, and it is also produced when nitrates, a family of chemicals present in detergents and lawn fertilizers, break down in the treatment process.

The target for adopting the regulations is December 2008, Liberti said, but DEM "wants to finalize and make them effective as soon as possible after" a period of public comment ends on Feb. 11.

Several plants in the Greater Providence area are already in compliance with the proposed regulations, but the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant would not meet the new standard, said Liberti.

Two plants operated by the Narragansett Bay Commission (one is in the Bucklin Point section of East Providence, the other is in Fields Point, Providence) and East Providence's municipal plant would also require modifications, said Liberti.

As part of a 20-year, lease-management pact, Woonsocket's aging wastewater plant underwent a $22 million overhaul three years ago, and its day-to-day operations were turned over to U.S. Filter Corporation, a company now known as Veolia Water North America. At the time, DEM granted the plant an operating permit with the caveat that the nitrogen issue might be revisited after further study, Liberti said.

"They did some degree of nitrogen reduction," Liberti said. "We did warn them that though the study wasn't done we thought they might be required to do something else in the future. Now we're about at that point."

A public airing of the nitrogen issue took place earlier this week in Harris Hall, when Administration/Public Works Director Michael A. Annarummo told the City Council it could cost $8 million to comply with the new standards. The money would cover a new bank of aeration tanks to allow wastewater to sit longer (or "age," as Annarummo put it), hastening the breakdown of nitrogen. And should anyone imagine that spending another $8 million at the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant will reduce odors emanating from the site -- don't count on it, said Annarummo.

Annarummo asked, "What's the downside of allowing tanks to age?" The answer, he said, is "odor -- significant odor."

City officials bristled at the new regulations, questioning whether they will achieve DEM's stated goals. Annarummo, a former interim director of DEM, said there is no proof that oxygen depletion in Narragansett Bay will improve if the four treatment plants in question discharge less nitrogen. Liberti did not dispute that, but he said DEM is monitoring the situation.

Faced with an ever-tougher regulatory climate, Annarummo said the city may face stark choices about its wastewater treatment program in the not-so-distant future.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Aberdeen Receives $13.2 Million Loan for WWTP Improvements
An Aberdeen water quality project and a Pickerel Lake Sanitary District undertaking are among those receiving help from the state. Aberdeen is getting a $13.2 million loan to improve its wastewater treatment plant and reduce pollution along the Elm River. The money is coming from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. It will be used to upgrade and expand the wastewater treatment plant and share the cost of a series of pollution controls along the Elm River watershed. Most of the money, $12.06 million, will be used for the facility's expansion. Another $1.16 million will be for pollution controls.

Gov. Mike Rounds approved the loans, which were announced by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources this week. "Aberdeen officials are taking steps to upgrade their wastewater treatment process to meet discharge permit standards for ammonia and to protect the city's drinking water supply," Rounds said in a press release.

Improvements to the wastewater plant will include renovating the existing equalization basins, replacing and renovating equipment at the facility, rehabilitating the existing biological treatment processes to include the activated sludge system, conducting an activated sludge control and blower building disinfection improvements, and expanding the sludge handling facilities.

The Elm River watershed is Aberdeen's primary source of drinking water. Restoration of the Elm's watershed began in 2003. The pollution control loan will help cover costs such as those for riparian buffers, grazing management systems, animal waste management systems and bank stabilization. The goal is to reduce nutrient and sediment loadings.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources also approved a $25,000 grant for riprap lagoons at Pickerel. Rounds said the money will come from the Consolidated Water Funding Program. "The Pickerel Lake Sanitary District has experienced erosion problems in two of its wastewater treatment lagoons. These funds will help stabilize those eroded areas with much-needed riprap," the governor said in a press release.

District officials want to repair eroded embankment areas and place 12 to 14 inches of riprap on the 2.15-acre primary pond and the 1.45-acre secondary pond. The estimated cost of all of the work is $104,200.

TENNESSEE

Abingdon County Discusses New Wastewater Treatment Plant
Before the county can grow in the area around Interstate 81’s Exit 7, it needs to increase its wastewater treatment capacity, county officials said recently. The county Board of Supervisors and the Service Authority are considering building a wastewater treatment plant to service the area from Exit 7 to Exit 13. The county studied sewer issues in 1998, but did not take into account possible growth in the Exit 7 area near Bristol, said County Administrator Mark Reeter.

Retail development has boomed in the area over the last few years and city and county leaders have been at odds over development of county-owned land there. One of the city’s key claims for annexation has been the county’s inability to treat wastewater. The county is not equipped to provide the needed services, including wastewater treatment.

The county has one wastewater treatment plant in the Meadowview area that serves a limited area. Beyond that, it purchases 572,000 gallons per day of wastewater treatment capacity from Bristol Virginia Utilities.

"We are at or will very soon be at the capacity we have," Reeter said. "It looks to us that the most expedient solution would be to build a wastewater treatment plant."

The preliminary study proposes two sites for a plant, the North Fork of the Holston River and the Spring Creek area, said Randall Hancock of Draper Aden Associates, the company conducting the study. It would cost an estimated $32.4 million for the Holston option and $37.4 million for the Spring Creek plant, he said.

"We got sticker shock when we saw the prices," said Supervisor Bobby Ingle. "But we need to go out on our own or stop the growth."

Draper Aden Associates will prepare a final study that will include detailed costs and financial options. It will be considered during a joint meeting in January.

BUSINESS

BASF Donates Nitrogen Removal Patent to Water Environment Research Foundation
BASF today donated a patent for wastewater treatment technology, entitled "Continuous Flow Completely Mixed Waste Water Treatment Method," to the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF).

The formal presentation of the patent to WERF was held at the Alexandria Sanitation Authority.

The patent, issued to BASF Corporation by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under U.S. patent number 6,426,004 in 2002, shows how to conduct nitrification and denitrification of wastewater in a single treatment tank, which is commonly referred to as Timeswitch technology and is different from the traditional multiple-compartment approach.

"We are very appreciative of BASF's donation," said Glenn Reinhardt, Executive Director of WERF. "We're excited about the cooperation with BASF on a project that may be quite useful in adding to the available nitrogen removal methods."

The Timeswitch method was discovered during BASF's efforts to reduce the amount of nitrate compounds in the discharge from its Freeport, Texas, manufacturing site. Engineers at the site had been looking for ways to modify the wastewater treatment plant on the site. Wastewater experts from BASF's Freeport site, as well as from other BASF locations in the United States and Germay, jointly developed the Timeswitch technology using computer simulations and pilot plant testing. BASF did not implement the process, but has retained rights to practice the technology under the donation agreement with WERF.

Typically nitrogen removal is accomplished in aerobic and anoxic tanks, vessels, or compartments of a wastewater treatment system. Since aerobic and anoxic treatments are incompatible, two tanks were thought to be the minimum number of vessels needed to operate both aerobic and anoxic processes. With the Timeswitch method, nitrates can be removed from water at municipal and industrial wastewater plants in a way that eliminates the need to invest capital in constructing an additional tank. With only a few new controls and mixers, both aerobic and anoxic treatment can be accomplished in one tank.

"This is exciting new technology that helps address a critical environmental issue," said Cenan Ozmeral, BASF's Group Vice President for Petrochemicals in North America. "The Timeswitch patent could be a very effective answer for municipalities and businesses that need or want to reduce nitrates in their water streams."

According to WERF, nitrogen control is one of North America's most significant environmental water quality issues. Nitrogen discharges are the primary cause of water quality and environmental problems in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and other regions.

Potential users of the Timeswitch treatment technology include municipal wastewater treatment plants, industrial wastewater treatment plants at manufacturers - such as food processing, steel manufacturing, and chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing - and concentrated animal feeding operations. For many facilities, use of the Timeswitch invention would allow nitrogen removal with minimal changes compared to the usual add-on approach, resulting in capital and operating cost savings.

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