Creating a brand new $25 million public sewer system with no seed money may sound crazy to most municipal officials, but the Town of Acton, Massachusetts did it and was out of the red within the first few years. Now that Acton is 15 years into the operation of the system, they have eliminated chronic septic system problems, captured targeted economic development, paid off more than half of the...

The South Bayside System Authority (SBSA) provides conveyance, treatment and disposal of wastewater for approximately 200,000 people in the South San Francisco Bay area. The conveyance system consists of four remote pump stations discharging to a common force main comprised of approximately 14.5 km (9 miles) of 610 to 1370 mm (24 to 54-inch) diameter reinforced concrete force main pipe, all...

This paper presents a novel process that hybrids contact stabilization and anaerobic digestion to create a novel process that can treat municipal wastewater while generating savings in energy as well as lowering the sludge yield. In this process, the aerobic sludge stabilization tank and anaerobic sludge digester are connected in parallel and part of the anaerobic digester sludge is recycled back...

Baker No. 3 pump station is one of six (6) storm water pump stations owned and operated by the Trinity River Watershed (TWM) Department of the City of Dallas, Texas (COD). These pump stations are designed to minimize flooding along the Trinity River corridor within the COD limits. Baker No. 3 pump station is under construction and scheduled to be in operation by June 2015. Trinity Watershed...

In anticipation of reaching full treatment plant operating capacity and changes in the biosolids disposal regulations, the City of Lakeland, Florida decided to pursue improvements and expansion of the existing solids processing at the Glendale WRF. A design memorandum was prepared for the City presenting various processing options. Several meetings held with City representatives, representatives...

The City of Columbia (City) Department of Utilities and Operations Wastewater Maintenance Division (WMD) has a significant amount of underground assets in need of continuous inspection by in-house personnel. The system includes a total of 30 miles of forces sewer main, 100 miles of large gravity sewer main (>15”) and 970 miles of small gravity sewer main (<15”) for a total of...

To comply with benzene NESHAP (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants) and MON (Miscellaneous Organic NESHAP) regulations, in 2009 a midwestern chemical plant WWTP was modified and expanded and restarted with two new above ground covered equalization tanks and two new above-ground recirculated aeration tanks. Use of all unlined earthen basins, including a primary sedimentation...

Conventional activated sludge modeling approaches have assumed that reactors are either completely mixed, or equivalent to a group of completely mixed reactors in series. In most cases this is sufficient, as most well-aerated tanks (aerated either mechanically or with diffused air) achieve a good level of mixing through the aeration process. In some cases, however, a lack of complete mixing can...

Funding for wastewater projects is a constant struggle in small communities. The town of Bristol, New Hampshire received an administrative order to address effluent violations at the town's wastewater treatment plant. The town sought federal and state grants to assist with the costs associated with a new chlorination/dechlorination facility in order to comply with their National Pollutant...

In March 2008, the Kansas City chapters of American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Planning Association (APA), American Public Works Association (APWA), and American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) began meeting for the very first time on regional design issues. The issue that brought these organizations together was sustainability and, more specifically, the region's desire to be...

The City of Indianapolis is currently implementing a 20-year, 1.7 billion Combined Sewer Overflow Long-Term Control Plan (CSO LTCP). Indianapolis is pursuing a variety of control measures to implement the LTCP, including deep tunnel storage, treatment plant expansions, consolidation sewers, satellite storage and treatment, and local sewer separation. The LTCP configuration was developed from...

The West Point Treatment Plant (WPTP) of King County, WA, has a rated capacity of 215 mgd under maximum month condition and 440 mgd at peak. It provides secondary treatment of flows up to 300 mgd using a high-purity oxygen (HPO) activated sludge process. The plant recently suffered a power failure and subsequent effluent pumping and control system failures, leading to the flooding of the...

The Stormwater Phase II Final Rule, which applies to small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) in "urbanized areas", requires communities across the country to adopt local legislation that will control the harmful effects of stormwater runoff and prohibit non-stormwater pollution from entering the drainage system. Adopting a thoughtful and comprehensive stormwater by-law may be the most...

The United Kingdom's ageing sewerage infrastructure meant that by the late 20th century the country was facing a major environmental problem associated with storm sewage discharges from more than 8,000 unsatisfactory combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Addressing this problem presented a major challenge to the UK water industry, but it is a challenge that has been met by a combination of farsighted...

Problems with eutrophication and algae blooms initiated the need for enhanced nutrient removal at European wastewater treatment plants in the end of the eighties. When upgrading the two WWTPs in Malmö, site specific upgrading concepts had to be considered because of the existing plant structures. As phosphorus removal already was implemented, the upgrading was focused on enhanced nitrogen...

The use of Membrane Bio-Reactors (MBR) in activated sludge wastewater treatment has grown significantly in the last decade. While there is growing awareness and knowledge about the application of MBR technology in municipal wastewater treatment, not much information is available on the application of MBR in industrial wastewater treatment. A comparative study of 24 MBR plants both municipal and...

Thermal hydrolysis of raw sludge prior to mesophilic digestion is a process that has been successfully used for more than a decade. In this period it has proved to be a reliable tool for the waste water plant designer. When used as a pre treatment of mesophilic digestion, it provides increased volatile solids reduction, higher gas yields, better biosolids dewaterability and reduces the required...

Many combined sewer communities in the United States require reporting CSO discharges to a state regulatory agency on a regular basis to satisfy National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements. Typically, these requirements include gathering discharge data using automatic flow meters in each outfall and developing the CSO discharge monitoring reports (DMR). The city of...

Groundwaters from the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site, Aurora, CO, have been treated using a UV catalyzed hydrogen peroxide advanced oxidation process, which has had difficulty removing 1,4-dioxane to low levels due to UV absorbance by the waters. Parsons performed a bench study to investigate biological degradation of the target compound. Parsons ran up to seven bench scale conventional activated...

Groundwater from the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site just outside of Denver, CO, has been treated using a UV catalyzed hydrogen peroxide advanced oxidation process, which has had difficulty removing a target compound (1,4-dioxane) from some Site groundwater streams to low levels due to UV absorbance/interference issues. Bench-scale studies were completed to investigate biological degradation of the...