Bids are due June 19, 2012 for the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department system wide odor control program.

For more information go to:

http://www.insidetucsonbusiness.com/daily_territorial/bid_notices/bid-notices/article_7a318ce6-af2b-11e1-96b1-0019bb2963f4.html

Construction has begun of the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant. The project has been in the planning stage since 2005.

The $70 million project is Conway Corp.’s largest in financial terms. The new plant and related system improvements, including line work and a pump station, will replace the city’s current Stone Dam facility. Initially, the new plant will treat up to 16 MGD of effluent, and ultimately it will be able to process 32 MGD. The initial phase will construct two parallel 8 MGD liquid trains for a total capacity of 16 MGD. Additional capacity increases can be constructed in 8 MGD increments, with a 24 MGD capacity anticipated by 2030.

This project replaces an aged treatment plant with a new facility that can be expanded to accommodate future growth. It is ideally situated to become the only treatment plant the city will need if it becomes uneconomical to continue operations at the Tucker Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The project is funded through a $70 million loan from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.

Once the Tupelo Bayou plant is handling Conway’s treatment needs, the 30-year-old Stone Dam facility will be decommissioned.

Conway Corp. provided the following project details:

• As part of the Tupelo Bayou project, improvements for wastewater treatment are being installed at the Tucker Creek Plant.

• Wastewater flow from the Stone Dam Wastewater Treatment Plant will be rerouted to the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant.

• A portion of the Tucker Creek flow will be diverted to the Tupelo Bayou facility with line work improvement construction.

• The Tupelo Bayou plant will feature advanced treatment technology that includes an activated sludge treatment system with innovative additions such as ultraviolet disinfection. It eliminates the use of chlorine and sulfur dioxide gas and anaerobic sludge digestion with gas recovery, which will be reused in the digesters’ heating cycle.

• Future use of digester gas for power regeneration may also be possible as the treatment plant is further expanded.

• The project employed several approaches to saving money, including a sales tax exemption for the wastewater equipment that saved approximately $1 million.

• The construction contractor is PC Construction Co. of South Burlington, VT.

• North Little Rock-based Garver provided the professional engineering services to plan and design the wastewater system improvements.

• The treatment plant will be located on a greenfield site adjacent to the Arkansas River, and the facility will discharge its enhanced effluent into the river.

• The overall project includes constructing the central and Donnell Ridge pump stations for $12.3 million. The contractor is Branco Enterprises of Neosho, MO.

• The Conway collection system line work will cost $11.7 million. The contractor is Rosetta Construction LLC of Springfield, MO.

The city's of Modesto’s huge wastewater treatment project has been advancing the repair, upgrade and expansion of wastewater treatment. Last month the City Council awarded a $100.5 million contract to a Livermore firm to build Phase II of the tertiary wastewater treatment project.

The plant is part of the Jennings Road sewage treatment facility seven miles west of downtown. Actual construction is expected to begin within two months and to run through fall 2015.

The plant will remove ammonia, nitrates and treat the water to meet the 2016 state-imposed deadline on the city. The wastewater be clean enough to be released into the San Joaquin River year-round and will be clean enough to be reused on farms or for irrigation.

GSE Construction Co. is the general contractor on the project.

The company and its subcontractors will hire 70 to 100 skilled craftspeople during various stages. The city hired Carollo Engineers, which designed the facility, to continue to provide engineering services during construction and another company, West Yost, to handle construction management and inspections.

A major upgrade of the Southland Wastewater Treatment Plant — the most expensive project ever undertaken by Nipomo Community Services District (NCSD) — could be under construction by July.

NCSD directors, also acting as the board of the district’s Public Facilities Corp., approved issuing up to $10 million in certificates of participation — similar to bonds — to finance the work.

The certificates will be repaid using revenue from sewer service fees paid by customers in the district’s Town Division.

NCSD General Manager Michael LeBrun said if the certificates are issued as scheduled, the district could award a contract June 13, and construction could begin in early July and completed in 18 months.

The first phase will replace the current 900,000-gallon-per-day pond treatment plant with a new plant that will have the same capacity but will use new technology to produce cleaner effluent.

LeBrun said the current plant will continue operating until the new plant is ready to go online. Then effluent in the existing ponds will be fed into the headworks of the new plant for reprocessing.

Once the old basins are empty, the liners will be pulled out and the basins likely filled with soil excavated for two new basins included as a bid alternative.

"That will leave us with a nice flat area where we could possibly locate a photovoltaic array to offset the electrical costs of operating the plant," LeBrun said. "It would be an ideal location for a photovoltaic intertie."

NCSD is building the new plant in response to a 2006 notice of violation issued by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board for exceeding limits for biological oxygen demand and total suspended solids in the treated effluent.

The Malibu City Council voted to move forward with hiring of consultants that will help put together a Community Facilities District, as part of the city's effort to find a way to cover design and other initial costs for the proposed Civic Center Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The Community Facilities District (CFD), which will be comprised of select commercially zoned property owners within the civic center who are willing to assist with the cost of the EIR and design, is expected to pay for the design and Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

In 2010, the State Water Board imposed a civic center septic prohibition that required a central wastewater facility to be constructed for the Civic Center properties. The prohibition area, which included some 500 properties, mandated that the owners cease discharge into their septic systems. The commercial properties within the Civic Center, which are in Phase 1, are required to connect to a central wastewater facility by 2015. The residential properties, which are in Phase 2, are required to connect by 2019.

In August of 2011, the city of Malibu and the Regional Water Quality Board entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allowed more flexibility in the phasing of the project, but mandated that the city meet strict timelines to ensure that progress is being made on the design and construction. Malibu has already paid $2.5 million for ongoing design costs and that cost could rise to $4.5 million to fully cover all of the costs.

Once the district is formed, the city will utilize the bond proceeds to pay the engineering design consultant, RMC Water and Environment, to complete the EIR and final design. The final construction of the wastewater treatment facility would be dependent upon the formation of an Assessment District comprised of all Phase 1 commercial properties, according to the city.

In June 2005 regulations passed that year lowered the level of ammonia that wastewater treatment facilities are allowed to discharge.

The Denver Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation District, which serves all but three cities in Jefferson County, is currently carrying out a $1.2 billion construction project to upgrade its treatment facilities to comply with discharge permit requirements. $211 million of that amount is being spent to construct a secondary treatment area to filter out additional ammonia and nitrates from treated waters. The project is scheduled for completion by January 1, 2015.

State water-quality officials are considering more changes to discharge regulations.

To address the problem of too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the water the Colorado Water Quality Control Division proposed a water-quality-control regulation amendment in Dec. 2011 that would mandate large treatment plants to mitigate the discharge of these two elements into waters.

The Water Quality Control Commission gave preliminary approval to these regulations in March. It will review the amendment once more in May before sending it to the EPA for approval. If approved, the regulations would become effective June 30.

Nancy Keller, chairwoman of the Colorado Wastewater Utility Council said, the regulations would force nearly 30 percent of the state’s wastewater treatment facilities to spend at least $2.5 billion each on added improvements and eventually cost the state nearly $25 billion over the next 10 years.

The funding for these construction projects would come directly from the cities served by the plants.

Like many of the other 59 local governments served by the treatment plant, the city of Arvada passes wastewater treatment costs to homeowners and charges an additional fee to maintain the city’s 408-mile sewer system. Steve Wyant, Arvada’s wastewater superintendent, said the city is already addressing needs to replace miles of aging sewer infrastructure and expanding it to accommodate growth in the city’s northwest corner, including Candelas. He said the project cost is already estimated at almost $12 million.

Officials in Golden, which treats its wastewater through a contract with MillerCoors, also are concerned about the proposed changes.

Montville - Now that the Town Council has voted to seek state funds to pay for a new wastewater treatment system on the grounds of Rand-Whitney Containerboard, the mayor has said further research is needed for the town and the paper manufacturer to move forward on the project.

A recent study, commissioned by environmental engineering firm Wright-Pierce on behalf of the town, determined the new wastewater treatment system would have benefits for Rand-Whitney and the town.

The town and Rand-Whitney have spent the last two years trying to mend a relationship that often led both parties to the courtroom. The two sides engaged for years in a legal dispute over wastewater fees and eventually a judge ordered the town to pay an $11.7 million settlement to Rand-Whitney. Last June the two sides reached an agreement that in part required both to explore upgrades and infrastructure improvements to a wastewater treatment facility on the paper manufacturer's grounds.

The study said this new system would allow the paper manufacturer to treat its wastewater on site more efficiently and as a result it would ease the costly burden on the town's wastewater facility. It also may keep the town from spending additional funds the state would require before it could upgrade its wastewater treatment facility in the event of development in town.

The Wright-Pierce study said the new system would mean additional annual operating costs of $362,000 for Rand-Whitney. It also said the town could stand to save substantially by keeping Rand-Whitney on a standard commercial rate and halting the need for the Water Pollution Control Authority to budget $500,000 per year in legal fees.

C.H. Nickerson & Company, a Connecticut-based general contractor, has won a $93 million bid for a facility renovation and upgrade at the Mattabassett District’s Water Pollution Control Facility in Cromwell.

The project is expected to take three years to complete and will include a full renovation and expansion of the existing facility, as well as an upgrade of its nitrogen removal processes.

Some of the equipment at the Mattabassett plant is more than 40 years old. This full renovation will help to increase the facility’s flow capacity, operating efficiency, and the effectiveness of the treatment process. One of the biggest advantages of the project will be the enhanced ability to remove nitrogen from the water discharged from the facility. This will, in turn, reduce the amount of nitrogen that flows into Long Island Sound each year.

The Mattabassett District Water Pollution Control Facility is currently designed to treat an average wastewater flow of 20 MGD. The facility serves approximately 170,000 ratepayers in New Britain, Berlin, Cromwell and parts of Middletown, Newington, Rocky Hill and Farmington. The state General Assembly passed a bill in 2011 which allows Middletown to be fully incorporated into this facility upon completion of the project.

The Shippan Water Pollution Control Authority’s (WPCA) multi-million-dollar odor control system at the wastewater treatment plant is not working and likely never has since being installed five years ago.

The odor is pervasive during warm weather, and Shippan residents have attended the WPCA Board of Directors' monthly meetings for years to plead for corrective action. Board members have discussed the problem extensively, but have been unable to launch a coordinated, focused effort to tackle the issue.

Minutes from the board's October 2010 meeting, for example, indicate members were committed to performing an odor audit or survey at the WPCA. But the survey was never performed. Minutes from subsequent meetings show board members balked at the cost, which was estimated could total $50,000.

Last year, WPCA officials spent more than $150,000 replacing the odor control system's piping and insulation. Some of the newly-installed equipment was later removed after leaks were discovered, however. The leaks have since been fixed, WPCA Supervising Engineer Prakash Chakravarti said.

It's been more than five years since the odor control system went online, and WPCA staff and board members now acknowledge the equipment never performed the function it was designed to do: use water and chemicals to scrub odorous compounds from the air. Chakravarti and Acting Chief Operator Karen Burton said the odor control system has acted as little more than a large fan since it was installed as part of the plant's $105 million infrastructure upgrade. "From day one it never fully operated the way it should have operated," Chakravarti said.

Recently, two of the board’s newest members with experience in the odor control area spent several hours inspecting the odor control system, which was designed and built by WPCA contractors CH2MHill and Carlin Contracting, with parts provided by Indusco Environmental.

It is a general consensus that the odor control system would be able to function correctly if repairs are made. But it is unclear if the plants problems are caused by design, installation or improper maintenance.

Another major source of odor at the WPCA comes from the sludge drying facility, which pelletizes about 12 to 17 tons of wastewater solids per day. The process involves heating the matter to about 1,500°F, which releases a pungent, burnt odor into the air. Because of the high temperature, the dryer cannot exhaust through the odor control system, but there may be a way to bypass or reroute the air through odor control at some point in the process.

At this point board members believe the plant is fixable but have no timeframe for the project.

The Islamorada Village Council has approved a $93 million contract with newly-formed company Islamorada Water, LLC to design and build a wastewater system to pipe sewage north to Key Largo. The total cost of the system is now estimated to be almost $117 million. That number is about $4 million less than projections released by village staff in late May. The price includes the $11.1 million the village agreed to pay the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District for use of its treatment plant.

Greg Tindle, Islamorada’s wastewater program manager, said the initial estimate was released before negotiations between village staff and Islamorada Water wrapped earlier this month, which reduced the price about $1.5 million. The price tag came down almost another $2.5 million after negotiators agreed to a "closed contract," with no cost escalation provisions.

The state Legislature approved $20 million designated for Islamorada wastewater projects earlier in the year.

The Village Council also unanimously agreed to apply for a $6.2 million Florida Department of Environmental Protection loan. It would be funded on a percentage basis as certain "milestones are accomplished". The loan application has to be in to DEP by June 21.

The system is a piping network with five pump stations throughout the four-island village. The final destination for the sewage will be Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District’s plant at mile marker 100.5. Islamorada Water, LLC is a company specifically formed to build the Islamorada system. It is a combination of international companies AECOM, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, and Veolia Water North America, based in Chicago, IL. AECOM will design and build the system, and Veolia will operate it for the next 30 years.

The Keys are facing a 2015 deadline to meet a state mandate to connect the entire county to centralized wastewater systems.

The storm sewer project is completed, and now Minonk must look at its wastewater treatment plant.

A representative of Farnsworth Group, an engineering firm, said the plant was built in the mid-1950s and has not been overhauled since the late 1970s. He said the public works crew has done a good job maintaining the equipment but most of the pieces have been pushed to the limit.

A study will help decide whether to replace all the equipment or just what is broken. The report should be final by the end of summer.

It has been more than three months since Crawfordsville received a Section 308(a) letter from the U.S. EPA.

That letter, dated Feb. 22, was a formal request regarding the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s testing and reporting issues. Significant progress has been made.

Following the request from the EPA, Mayor Todd Barton immediately began working to investigate the nature of the inquiry and the EPA’s focus on copper levels in the city’s sewer system. His investigation and discussions with EPA and Department of Justice attorneys revealed that although the EPA has raised this issue with the city a number of times since the mid 1990s, the city had not adequately addressed the issue.

The mayor took several immediate steps to bring the city into full EPA compliance and to improve its WWTP operation to the best extent possible including:

• Retained David Lahey of Butler, Fairman & Seufert, a sanitary engineer and engineering firm to investigate the city’s plant and system to make certain the city is operating exactly as it should;

• Retained Tim Crawford and Daniel Astbury of Astbury Water Technology Inc. (Astbury) a wastewater operations and management company to assist in the investigation and recommendations regarding the city’s system’s operation, as well as to assist in the interim WWTP day-to-day operations;

• Requested that both the sanitary engineers and O&M specialists work to assist the city in investigating the subjects of the EPA’s formal inquiry, as well as work to bring the city into compliance on the copper issue once and for all;

• Appointed Astbury’s Tim Crawford to serve as the certified operator of record, and began the search for a permanent class IV certified operator and superintendent.

Since March 19, Larry Kadinger has served as interim superintendent and worked with Crawford, to make a number of significant operational improvements and changes.

Since that time the city has made several strides to not only meet, but to exceed the EPA requirements.

"I am confident that the City’s operation and management team, and its new engineers will develop workable solutions to the EPA’s and Justice Department’s concerns," Barton said in the release. "Since March 2012, the City’s O&M and engineering team has demonstrated that the City’s plant is already operating much better. Every day the team works to make positive steps toward identifying the operational changes or physical plant improvements that might resolve the copper exceedances. Perhaps the most significant recent change is refocusing and doubling efforts to maximize overall plant operations. Although we remain committed to enhancing and enforcing our industrial pretreatment program, operational improvements may perhaps provide the best chance to achieve effluent-limits compliance."

The City’s operation and management team, and its new engineers, its WWTP employees, and its legal team have worked to respond to the formal Section 308 information request.

"We do not at this time have a specific expectation about the timeframe in which the EPA’s environmental scientists will respond regarding the agency’s review of the material the City produced," Barton said. "And finally, we reiterate, that although EPA regulatory compliance is serious and important, we are not aware of any public health threats or issues posed by the matters that are the subject of the current inquiry."

Barton said he and his administration are still looking at the best way to continue to move forward with the leadership of the Wastewater Department. Should the City elect to continue to outsource the position, Barton said a change would have to be made at some point as it would be cost prohibitive to continue employing the company now in place. "We hope to make that decision soon," Barton said.

Costs of a new sewer collection system in Davenport have come in less than expected.

City Manager Amy Arrington said the low bid for the wastewater treatment plant is just less than $2 million, which is what engineers projected. However, the low bid for the sewer collection system to be installed in old Davenport was $1.7 million less than projected.

"If that bid is a good one, we're in a good position," Arrington said. "We're waiting for our engineers to verify that everything is good with those low bids."

The commission decided to build its own wastewater treatment plant because it was less expensive than hooking into Polk County's or Haines City's.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been pressuring towns whose residents have septic tanks to build sewer systems to prevent pollution of lakes and streams.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing $4.9 million in loans and a $2.3 million grant to fund the project.

The city has a bond issue ready to go to borrow the funds needed to install the sewer system and wastewater treatment plant but will wait until a town meeting tentatively set for July 12.

The city of Westwego is ready to begin nearly $1 million in improvements to its aging wastewater treatment plant to bring the facility in line with state guidelines and improve its independence during hurricanes.

Westwego has received six bids for improvements to the plant that will include a new generator, polymer system, rotostrainer and blower. The lab and office building at the facility also could be remodeled as part of the plan.

Bids for the project range from a low of $783,400 to a high of $1.25 million. The apparent low bidder was Volute Inc. of Houma, which underbid its closest competitor by about $12,000.

Westwego has been discussing the improvements to the plant since 2009, when Mayor John Shaddinger suggested seeking the 20-year loan from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. The city is borrowing $1.15 million.

City Superintendent Paul Bernard has told city officials that the improvements are desperately needed at the facility, which he said is currently a "Band-Aid" operation. The generator will allow the plant to operate during power outages, while the other equipment will improve wastewater treatment.

Wilton residents will vote on whether to approve a $4.8 million project to finish upgrades to their aging wastewater treatment system.

The proposed project is the second of two phases to improve and upgrade the town's 34-year-old system.

The town's 944 sewer customers are already slated to pay an added $213 per year over the next 30 years on a previously approved project that primarily improves the pump stations.

A preliminary study of potential sites for a wastewater treatment plant for Rutland has identified two sites large enough to handle the town’s projected sewage flow.

Using only statistics on geology and environmental and protected area maps, Weston & Sampson Environmental/Infrastructure Consultants of Peabody created a map that showed areas of the Treasure Valley Scout Reservation in southwest Rutland and parts of Alta Vista farm in northeast Rutland as potentially feasible sites for the plant.

The next step would be to investigate those sites by installing groundwater wells, excavating test pits and performing preliminary soil and hydro-geological analysis.

The study was commissioned after town meeting approved the funds in order to investigate alternatives to what Department of Public Works Director Gary Kellaher said were high costs for transportation of the town’s sewage to the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District in Millbury.

Rutland’s effluent is transported through Holden and Worcester and cost for transportation is paid to Worcester. Only 42 percent of the town (about 1,600 homes) has public sewage disposal, mostly clustered around the center of town. Most of the town of Rutland has private septic systems.

Weston & Sampson presented the feasibility study to the Board of Selectmen. The board asked engineers to investigate whether town-owned land was mistakenly listed as protected property in that study and to consider those parcels in the next version of the study.

State Representative Jay Barrows told Norton selectmen recently the five-year- old effort to expand the Norton based, Mansfield-operated sewer treatment facility is inching towards completion.

The wastewater district includes the towns of Mansfield, Norton and Foxborough. Under the current understanding, Mansfield will be treating 450,000 additional gallons of wastewater a day, and Foxborough and Norton will be asking for 250,000 gallons a day.

Negotiations for the purchase of land are also proceeding. The land is one of two parcels necessary for the discharge of treated wastewater once the plant is expanded. The state has ruled that the plant cannot discharge any more treated effluent into the Three Mile river basin, so expansion depends on the creation of a network of storage pools that will allow the water to seep slowly into the ground. One parcel of land has already been secured, but the other property has been more problematic.

The expansion and increased customers from all three towns will call for "significant expansion of infrastructure" in Norton and Foxborough.

At the June Butterfield City Council meeting, the Council members went over a contractor application to conduct wastewater treatment facility improvements.

The Council awarded the contract to R&R Excavating, Inc. via engineer company Bolton & Menk at a cost of $105,147.24.

The city of Hattiesburg has to have one of three wastewater treatment alternatives up and running to meet new EPA and MDEQ requirements by summer 2017.

"Really we are racing against the clock," said Hattiesburg Director of Engineering, Bert Kuyrkendall. He said because of new nutrient limit requirements, the city of Hattiesburg has to reduce the nutrients coming out of the lagoons to two milligrams per liter. The city's current lagoon system is not able to meet these new limits, now it's time to look at other options that can.

"The first option is a mechanical treatment plant, which a lot of cities our size currently have. Basically, it would involve scrapping the entire lagoon system, and building a brand new mechanical treatment plant," said Kuyrkendall. "The mechanical plant is the most expensive option, but it also gives you the most predictable results," said Kuyrkendall.

The second option is keeping the lagoons in place, but adding a polishing treatment plant. "It would be a lot smaller than a full blown mechanical plant. It would be at the end of the lagoon treatment process, and it would actually reduce those nutrient limits at the very end of the process," said Kuyrkendall. He added the polishing treatment is one of the cheaper solutions, but the cons may outweigh the pros. "It could meet our nutrient limits now, but the limits that the EPA is talking about enforcing in the near future, it would not meet those limits," said Kuyrkendall.

Land application is the final option.

"It involves some pre-treatment in the lagoon. It wouldn't be as big as it is now, and then actually pumping that to a land application site where the final polishing treatment happens with microorganisms in the soil itself," said Kuyrkendall.

The biggest advantage with land application is zero discharge to the Leaf River, which means the city would not have to worry about any future limits from the EPA, but it would take a lot of a specific soil.

"A land application site might take two to four thousand acres," said Kuyrkendall.

"We are targeting the summer as making a decision about the treatment options, so we can start the design process and start the fund raising process," said Kuyrkendall.

City leaders are asking that citizens actively participate in selecting a plan for wastewater treatment. Residents can attend three public sessions to voice their opinions.

Gigantic tanks, the size of a football field and four stories tall, each costing at least $80 million will be the first major investment in Kansas City’s $2.5 billion federally-mandated program to stop sewage and stormwater pollution from flowing into the city’s rivers and streams.

In June the council approved a $305,000 contract with Black and Veatch to begin evaluating options for storing up to 65 million gallons of wastewater. It was a routine contract, but is the start of a massive 25-year sewer program.

Black and Veatch is expected to come back in the next 90 days with a more detailed plan. There’s a chance the company will recommend a shallow tunnel under Swope Park rather than above-ground storage. The shallow tunnel idea would proceed only if it meets the required schedule and budget.

But for now, tanks are the preferred option, said Ron Coker, a Burns and McDonnell vice president who is project manager for the sewer overflow program.

Coker said regulators wanted Kansas City to begin the 25-year plan with this phase to alleviate pollution into the Blue River, which is south and east of the proposed storage area. Currently, when Kansas City gets hit with torrential rains, the area’s sewers are overwhelmed and manholes overflow with contaminated water that eventually reaches the river. The tanks would provide storage until the system dried out and wastewater could be returned to pipes and sent to the treatment plant.

The first phase of construction, which must be completed by the end of 2016, calls for one $80 million precast concrete tank, storing 20 million gallons of rainwater and sewage. It would be 200 to 375 feet in diameter and about 85 feet tall.

The project’s second phase, from 2016 to 2021, could involve two more tanks, together holding 45 million more gallons. But whether Kansas City builds two or three tanks will depend in large part on Johnson County because Kansas City currently treats about one-fourth of Johnson County’s wastewater.

Johnson County is just completing its own analysis and expects a consultant’s report by the end of June, said John O’Neil, Johnson County Wastewater general manager. Johnson County is weighing whether to upgrade treatment facilities on its own side of the state line but doesn’t yet know whether that would be cost-effective, O’Neil said.

If Johnson County treats more of its own sewage, that could reduce the number of storage tanks needed in Kansas. But if Kansas City builds all three tanks, it is expected to cost more than $275 million in design, construction and pump station improvements.

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) has filed a complaint against the city of Humphrey for failing to properly maintain and operate its wastewater treatment system.

According to a complaint Humphrey has violated the conditions of its permit for the municipal sewer and lagoon system multiple times since early 2010.

The NDEQ claims the city does not have ownership or proper contractual rights in place to control when water from the wastewater treatment plant can be used to irrigate nearby cropland. During three days in June 2010, the department says the city discharged untreated wastewater into an unnamed body of water through this irrigation system.

The complaint also states that an April 16, 2010, inspection of the wastewater site revealed an eroding lagoon wall, broken equipment, overgrowth of weeds and trees, inappropriately large concrete pieces with exposed rebar used as rip-rap and water levels above the maximum allowed under the permit. Other issues cited by the NDEQ include failure to keep burrowing animals away from the lagoon site, improper signage and security concerns caused by an ineffective fence and unlocked gate.

Staff also failed to analyze the wastewater system flow or collect inflow samples throughout 2011, according to the complaint.

The NDEQ has ordered the city to gain irrigation rights, begin a flow study, identify broken valves, remove the overgrown vegetation and repair any damage caused by animals by June 15.

Humphrey has until Aug. 15 to complete a geotechnical investigation of the site using a professional engineer, replace all inoperable valves, identify inappropriate rip-rap and soil deposits and eliminate all sources of improper inflow.

All other repairs identified in the complaint must be completed by Oct. 31, when a wastewater facility plan is due to the NDEQ. Improvements to the sewer system and wastewater treatment facility identified in that plan must be ready for implementation Oct. 31, 2013.

The city of Humphrey, which can request a hearing to contest the complaint, faces civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day if it fails to obey the NDEQ orders.

In June the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be in Exeter to hold a hearing regarding nitrogen permitting along the Great Bay estuary.

The hearing, titled "EPA Overreach and the Impact on New Hampshire Communities," is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, June 4, at Town Hall and is open to the public.

The hearing will include testimony from five people: four from the Great Bay Coalition communities fighting the nitrogen permitting and one representative from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Testifying for the Great Bay Coalition communities will be Dean Peschel, an environmental consultant for the coalition; Peter Rice, Portsmouth city engineer; John Hall, an environmental consultant; and T.J. Jean, mayor of Rochester.

Testifying for the EPA will be EPA Region 1 Administrator Curt Spaulding.

Facing nearly $1 billion in combined costs for upgrading their respective wastewater treatment plants because of the strict nitrogen limit being proposed by EPA Region 1, the communities of Portsmouth, Exeter, Newmarket, Dover and Rochester have challenged the EPA's science in determining the new limit.

Peschel said the hearing will be an excellent opportunity for the communities' representatives to voice their concerns. "The coalition's hope is the committee will help us get a peer review of the issue and the science behind it," he said. In addition, Peschel said, the coalition has been granted a meeting with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about the communities' concerns. That meeting is still being scheduled.

The draft permits issued by EPA Region 1 to the communities of Exeter, Newmarket and Dover call for a nitrogen discharge limit of 3 milligrams per liter, the strictest standard attainable with current treatment technology, but the coalition has advocated for an adaptive management plan that would allow the communities to design new wastewater treatment plants for a limit of 8 milligrams per liter.

The coalition's adaptive management plan calls for later investment in additional water monitoring, coming up with strategies to address other sources of nitrogen and investing in oyster bed restoration, which would help filter nitrogen out of the estuary. The coalition communities recently sent a letter to Jackson requesting a meeting in hopes of removing EPA Region 1 from the permitting process.

Coalition officials say they have repeatedly presented EPA Region 1 with information disproving the federal standards and questioning the role nitrogen levels play in the estuary's declining eelgrass population and overall health.

They also claim EPA Region 1 has dismissed relevant reports on multiple occasions, including one from the EPA's own Science Advisory Board, which states that in order to assign water quality standards, regulators need to be certain the increased nitrogen has caused the eelgrass to die off. The advisory panel's report stated EPA Region 1 did not establish that cause-and-effect relationship.

Exeter is expected to be the first community to receive its final nitrogen discharge permit.

Jennifer Perry, Exeter's Department of Public Works director, said she does not know when the permit will be issued but has been told it would be issued "shortly."

A spokesperson for the EPA said there is no firm timetable for the issuing of the final permit.

The city of Perth Amboy has agreed to make major improvements in its combined sewer system to protect public health and water quality under a legal settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Under the agreement, Perth Amboy will spend about $5.4 million for the repair, upgrade and expansion of the city's combined sewer system and will also pay a $17,000 penalty.

The Perth Amboy agreement requires the city to reduce the amount of sewage and other pollutants that flow out of 16 combined sewer points into the Raritan River and Arthur Kill, a tidal strait separating Staten Island, NY from mainland New Jersey.

The EPA says Perth Amboy violated the Clean Water Act and its New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection discharge permit by failing to properly maintain and operate its sewer system, conduct regular inspections and have a pollution prevention plan in place.

The city also violated a previously issued EPA order to address Clean Water Act violations. Under the new agreement, Perth Amboy will conduct annual inspections of all of its combined sewer system control facilities and will develop and implement a combined sewer overflow pollution prevention plan.

In response to the EPA's earlier enforcement efforts, Perth Amboy has already completed a thorough inspection and engineering assessment of its sewer system. As a result of that study, the city will develop a plan to fix problems identified and do further work to separate the pipes so that some pipes will only carry wastewater from buildings to the wastewater treatment plant instead of a combination of domestic wastewater and stormwater.

Work already underway and work that will be conducted under the legal settlement agreement will be completed by December 31, 2016.

The Mansfield Board of Control recently approved a proposal for a sludge testing study to replace the sludge filter presses at the Mansfield Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Burch Hydro Inc. of Fredricktown will provide consulting services for dewatering equipment demonstrations at the wastewater treatment plant. Burch Hydro will set up the dewatering demonstrations with two belt press companies.

Wastewater treatment plant manager Mark Morgan said the existing presses are 30 years-old and need to be replaced. Morgan said the results from the demonstrations will be presented to the city to determine which press is the most effective and will minimize disposal cost.

The village of Hartville’s sanitary sewage treatment plant’s daily capacity to treat sewage is expected to increase by one-third through an upcoming infrastructure project.

"It will allow for some increased growth in the village, both residential and commercial, and industrial," Mayor Richard Currie said. " The village has about 2,900 residents and the sewer treatment plant dates to the mid-1950s.

Funding is in place and officials anticipate putting the project out for construction bid later this year. Estimated costs are about $7.3 million,

While preparing the plant to treat more waste is one objective, another is replacing aging equipment. The plant’s average daily treatment level is 450,000 gallons. With the project, the plant’s average daily treatment level will increase to 600,000 gallons, according to an engineer with Burgess & Niple, designers of the project.

Hartville has not incurred fines and penalties from the Ohio EPA for the quality of its sewage discharge. But they have had some warning letters, said Rob Graham, the village’s retained engineer. "We haven’t had any violations. But we are on notice that we need to be doing something. If that equipment fails, the village would be fined. If new businesses were to come to town, the EPA would not let them connect to the sewage plant.

Expediting a 10-year sewer rehabilitation program aimed at reducing inflow and infiltration that has caused Cleveland Utilities (CU) overflow headaches for years will double cost estimates to almost $29 million, members of the Cleveland Board of Public Utilities learned recently.

The original price tag had been forecast at about $14.9 million.

In order to pay the costs associated with the Strategic Commitment to Protect the Environment (SCOPE 10) initiative which spans a decade of sewer system improvements, CU had already budgeted 4 percent wastewater rate hikes in Fiscal Years 2014, 2015 and 2017, and a 5 percent increase in FY 2019. However, the numbers have risen over the past few months and especially after the unprecedented Labor Day 2011 flooding which forced utility leaders to rethink the speed and magnitude of SCOPE 10.

CU has scheduled no rate hikes for FY 2013, but in order to make an appreciative difference quickly in the I/I issues that create manhole overflows during periods of heavy storms, the utility is faced with future wastewater rate increases in order to pay for the massive sewer system rehab.

Violations could also invite involvement by the U.S. EPA. Recent EPA mandates have been leveled against neighboring utilities in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Brentwood and Oak Ridge.

"These utilities have currently committed to spend in excess of $2.2 billion to comply with EPA orders," according to a report by Greg Clark, a seven-year CU water engineer who recently was named manager of the SCOPE 10 sewer rehabilitation program. "These communities have either been required to increase rates or have had to raise rates to fund the (sewer rehab) programs."

The local utility company officially launched SCOPE 10 last year as a more aggressive step to an I/I project that was already under way in the South Cleveland basin where engineers believed some of the city’s worst I/I was taking place. Littlejohn Engineering Associates was contracted to lead the I/I effort which included smoke testing and the use of closed-circuit TV cameras through the existing sewer system to identify defective sections of line and manholes.

Work was progressing, but the city’s massive flooding on Labor Day 2011 forced the decision to expedite the process with far more aggressive actions. Since that time, engineers have identified a manhole, located in Tinsley Park, as being a chronic overflow point.

CU President and CEO Tom Wheeler stressed CU will not plunge into the full $29 million investment overnight. He said each leg of the initiative will be evaluated and results will be closely monitored. If the utility fails to achieve the positive gains it is expecting, changes will be made in order to maintain the cost-effectiveness of the campaign.

In the meantime, the CU Board will seek a joint meeting with members of the Cleveland City Council in order to fully update the governing body on the SCOPE 10 strategy, its future expectations and its anticipated costs. Wheeler said he hopes to schedule the joint session sometime within the next two months.

To continue the SCOPE 10 progress, board members took two actions, including:

• Approved a contract with Littlejohn Engineering Associates in the amount of $56,000 for the preparation of contract documents, technical specifications and plans for the rehabilitation of manholes and sewer lines in Basin 31-45. Funding for this project is included in CU’s approved budget for FY 2012.

• Approved a contract with Littlejohn Engineering Associates in the amount of $580,000 for inspection activities such as smoke testing, manhole inspections, flow isolation testing, closed circuit television (CCTV) and sonar inspection of sewer lines in Basin 10-36. Results from the inspection work will lead to an estimated budget and rehabilitation projects. Funding for the project is included in the approved budget for FY 2012.

Albany officials are getting ready for an attempt to negotiate a solution to a costly problem at the city’s sewage treatment plant.

Mayor Sharon Konopa and Public Works Director Mark Shepard among others will lead a delegation to Oakland, CA, for meetings on June 13 with mediator Randall Wulff and representatives of Siemens, the company that made one of the treatment plant systems.

The Albany-Millersburg Wastewater Reclamation Facility was completed in 2009 at a cost of about $75 million.

Part of the plant — a system called "Cannibal," intended to reduce solids in the treatment process — has never worked properly, city officials say. City Manager Wes Hare estimates this has forced the Public Works Department to pay roughly $500,000 a year since the plant opened to have solid residue hauled to the Coffin Butte landfill. Besides the cost, the problem has caused solid waste to be stockpiled at the plant until it could be hauled away, creating an odor problem in the neighborhood.

On its website, Siemens of Waukesha, WI, says the "revolutionary Cannibal system significantly reduces the biological solids produced by activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, as well as the costs associated with sludge wasting and removal."

In Albany this has not been the experience, although a similar system in Lebanon works well, Shepard said. The difference may lie in the volume of material that has to be treated.

In the negotiations, Albany seeks either a lump sum settlement or an agreement for Siemens to cover the extra sludge-handling costs while it figures out how to make the system work.

Scott Crosswell, CET Engineering Services, Harrisburg, presented an offer to analyze data and equipment at the Antrim wastewater treatment plant so that the township could better meet Chesapeake Bay standards taking effect in 2012.

Antrim was allowed 22,000 pounds of nitrogen per year, which ends Sept. 30. It was already at 21,000 pounds and Crosswell predicted it would end at 28,000. He wanted to optimize plant operations to reduce the number of nutrient credits the township would have to purchase to comply with regulations.

Public works director Carl Rundquist said, "This study will also indicate capital improvements we’ll need down the road. This is to try to head off the problems we see coming."

Crosswell’s proposal was approved.

The Chester County Commissioners recently announced the awarding of more than $3 million in community revitalization grants, including $634,770 to Elverson Borough for use for its wastewater treatment plant.

Elverson Borough Council President Merle Stoltzfus said that there a number of reasons why the improvements are necessary, all stemming from the age of the plant.

" It has been 18 years since any upgrades have been made to the filtration system. We are a stream discharge and the (regulations on the) quality of effluent we need to discharge have obviously gotten tighter in the past 18 years.

"We have to use community money in the amount of 25 percent of this project (which is, approximately,) an $800,000 project. So the grant is really important to us because it makes it affordable for Elverson, which has an annual budget that is about $350,000."

In terms of the grant process, Stoltzfus said Elverson had to move quickly once made aware of the funding availability. Due to the technical nature of the application, the sewer authority and their engineers had to help the borough apply for the grant.

He said that the timeline to completion of the project should be within a year.

"Once we go with a bid, the project will not take a long time, there is not a lot of permitting required to get the job done."

For the upgrades to the system, there are two major components involved. The first upgrade is replacing the current sand filtration system with a media filtration system. Second is replacement of the stream discharge system.

"Chlorination of our final effluent is a problem (because it has undesirable) effects on the environment. We are going to be using an infrared light system instead. It is almost the only way to go when compared to chlorine and is environmentally sensitive as well."

During the past decade more than $51.5 million for needed infrastructure improvements have been awarded to the 16 urban centers in Chester County (City of Coatesville and 15 boroughs) through its Community Revitalization efforts.

The Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority will receive $6 million for a project that includes infiltration and inflow correction as part of $25.5 million in low-interest loans.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Bob Martineau said in a news release that the low-interest loans will be used in various communities across the state for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements.

Wastewater loans are for the following recipients:

• Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority — The Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority’s infiltration and inflow correction project will be funded with a 20-year, $4.8 million.

• Water Authority of Dickson County (Dickson and Williamson Counties) — The Water Authority of Dickson County will receive $10 million for a project that includes collection system expansion and rehabilitation and replacement of gravity sewer trunk lines.

• City of White House (Sumner and Robertson Counties) — The city of White House will receive $4 million for a project that includes infiltration and inflow correction.

A traditional wastewater loan was for the following recipient:

• City of White House (Sumner and Robertson Counties) — The city of White House will also receive a $500,000, 20-year loan with an interest rate of one percent for a project that includes infiltration and inflow correction.

Clarksville residents and those who use the Clarksville Gas and Water sewer system in Montgomery County will likely see an increase in their monthly sewer rate by the end of the summer.

Pat Hickey, the director of Clarksville Gas and Water, asked the council to raise the rate to help fund repairs to the wastewater treatment plant that was damaged during the 2010 flood. He said the facility was not eligible for FEMA reimbursement, forcing the department to fund the repairs itself.

Hickey said he and other officials in the city and at Gas and Water plan to appeal the need for FEMA funding the repairs.

This month the city of Galveston will break ground on the single largest Hurricane Ike disaster recovery project in Texas.

Construction to replace the island’s main wastewater treatment plant, heavily damaged by Ike in 2008, with a new $75.4 million state-of-the-art facility will begin soon thereafter.

Galveston’s main wastewater treatment plant serves about 70 percent of the island, including the University of Texas Medical Branch, the central business district, the port and wharves, the majority of public schools, the hospitality industry and many island neighborhoods.

After Ike’s landfall, the plant suffered a complete failure and was out of service for six days.

Forced to work within several critical constraints, including cost, construction schedule, a mandated upgrade to current codes and regulatory standards, site limitations, and tightening permit limits, CDM Smith project managers traded traditional design concepts for innovative technology.

The team prepared 700 sheets of construction drawings, as well as 3D, 4D and 5D models to help the city choreograph the complicated demolition and construction site plan. Most importantly, the current wastewater treatment plant will remain in operation throughout the entire window of the new facility’s construction.

This spring, the Galveston City Council awarded Fru-Con Construction LLC the $75.4 million contract to construct the main wastewater treatment plant. Engineering firm CDM Smith Inc. designed the facility.

Final completion of the facility is slated for November 2015.

Atlanta City councilmen voted to seek bids to modernize the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Though the cost is unknown until bids come in, rehabilitating the Horace Whatley Wastewater Treatment Plant is expected to cost around $650,000.

A project manager from CLB Engineers in Texarkana, told the council the plant needs several new systems and upgrades to properly treat the city’s waste. Much work has already been done, including installation of a new computer system and repairs at various lift stations that have improved treatment processes.

Once plans are ready, they will be submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for approval, then bids will be advertised. The process will take about 10 days. The city will advertise for approximately two weeks for bids.

Bobby Washington, director of the city’s Public Works Department, told the council work on the lift station and the raising of five manholes above bayou level in that area has considerably reduced the inflow of rainwater into the wastewater system.

Barnwell Industries, in Queen City, which submitted the low bid for that contract, installed "floats and electronics".

Corpus Christi’s future three year capital improvement plan for $26 million is for a new wastewater treatment plant.

The city has been paying for this new facility through the capital improvement plan for the past few years. Officials say this is the last payment the city has to make toward the $51 million project.

The equipment from the wastewater treatment plant is from the 1930's and city officials all agree it is time to get it replaced.

The new wastewater facility will have a new odor control feature and a generator that will help the facility keep running in emergencies.

Construction on the new plant began two years ago, and it is scheduled to be up and running by next year.

The West Travis County Public Utility Agency moved forward on the Bohls Wastewater Treatment Plant project with the approval of contracts with Murfee Engineering.

The project includes an effluent storage pond in phase one of construction.

The board approved three contracts with Murfee Engineering for the design of the plant, construction and administration of the pond and redesign of the pond to accommodate the newly added 40-foot setback.

The redesign adds $30,000 to the cost of the project, which is estimated to total up to $12 million.

"We started the bidding process," said George Murfee, engineering consultant to the utility and president of Murfee Engineering. "We've got a pre-bid conference on May 31."

Bids were due June 12 for a new sewer system for the tiny village of Greenville in Augusta County with plans to serve about 135 properties. The aim is to prevent seepage from failing septic systems into the South River.

If bids come in close to the estimated $3.3 million cost for the project, work could begin as early as August or September, with the village hooked up to a wastewater treatment plant by December 2013, said Kim Cameron, senior project engineer with the Augusta County Service Authority.

The plans call for a 1.5-mile connection from the interstate exit to the wastewater plant and 3.2 miles of sewer lines in the village itself. The village lines will be fed by gravity, but the service authority will build a pump house to move waste to the treatment plant. The plans cover about 20 properties outside the village proper, where residents have said they'd like to participate.

The county is contributing $1 million to the project and has state loans and grants to finance the rest.

Plans to move forward with the third lowest bidder for wastewater treatment plant renovations were rejected recently by the Clarkston City Council.

Initially the council talked about securing additional funding through bonds or a loan because the third lowest bidder puts the project about $2 million over budget. A motion to re-bid the project and get funding secured before moving forward was the final decision.

The upgrade, which Clarkston Public Works Director Jim Martin said is long overdue, will bring in new technology to help clean waste more efficiently and effectively before it runs into the rivers. The renovations are budgeted at approximately $14 million.

The cities of Mabton and Granger have been selected for sizable federal grants to help improve their wastewater treatment systems, the state has announced.

The competitive Community Development Block Grants for 2012 were awarded to 15 projects statewide that were selected from 36 applications requesting more than $30 million.

Mabton will receive $759,000 while Granger's award is $1 million, both for wastewater treatment facility improvements.

The sums for Mabton and Granger are still short of what both cities need for recommended upgrades to lower the risk of pollution. But more money could be on the way in July when the new state fiscal year begins.

Last July, the state Department of Ecology ranked proposed upgrades to the Granger and Mabton wastewater plants as No. 1 and 2, respectively, on its annual list of water-quality improvement projects. Department officials ranked the list of 100 applicants by their risk of downstream water pollution. In all, Granger and Mabton topped a list of 58 water projects that will receive a share of $89 million in grants and loans in July.

Granger sought a total of $5.09 million in loans and grants to expand the capacity of its wastewater treatment plant by replacing a sewer main line and adding new equipment. Mabton asked for $6.68 million to boost the sewage plant's capacity and improve its reliability and redundancy. City officials hope to begin construction this summer or fall.

In 2010, Mabton had a power failure that caused the largest municipal sewage spill in Eastern Washington in at least 20 years. About 370,000 gallons of untreated waste escaped into the Yakima River. The city added temporary improvements and has raised sewer rates to $70 per month to pay for improvements and the extra maintenance that a larger, more sophisticated facility will require.

The Keyser City Council approved hikes to water and sewer rates that have been in place since 1999. The first of several increases, to be phased in over a period of several years, takes effect in 45 days.

A substantial completion of the wastewater treatment plant project is planned for late 2015. The new treatment plant will cost $26.2 million and is needed to meet Chesapeake Bay restoration mandates for limits on nitrogen and phosphorus. The current plant cannot meet the limits, which need to be met by Dec. 31, 2015.

There are two water and two sewer projects, said Fred Hypes, vice president of engineering with Dunn Engineering.

Phase I of the water project includes the refurbishing of the A Street water tank, construction of a new tank and replacement of five miles of galvanized water lines. The second phase of the water project is a rebuild of the replacing filter basin and adding high-volume service pumps at the water treatment plant.

The sewer projects include a combined sewer separation project that also involves water line replacement and building the wastewater treatment plant. Phase I will cost $4 million; Phase II will cost about $7 million, according to a representative of Griffith and Associates of Charleston.

The council approved four contracts for accounting services of Griffith and Associates. The contracts have a cap for each project: $20,000 for Water Phase I, $25,000 for Water Phase II, $30,000 for Chestnut Street and $50,000 for the treatment plant.

The city of Washburn has been violating Wisconsin sewage release regulations for more than two years but may be moving toward compliance after months of effort to tweak its sewage treatment plant.

The 15-year-old plant suddenly stopped working in December 2009 and started sending up to 300,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay every day — with contaminants far in excess of state regulations.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a notice of non-compliance to the city after four months of violations and in June 2010 issued a moratorium on any new construction, allowing no new sewage mains or extensions or commercial hookups until the problem is solved.

But, 30 months later, the city is still in violation of state limits on fecal coliform, phosphorus, biological oxygen demand and suspended solids. State law requires treated sewage released to be at 400 colonies of fecal coliform per 100 milliliters, but Washburn’s has routinely been as high as 30,000 to 60,000, and sometimes test results come back "TNC," too numerous to count for the bacteria that is found in human waste, said Lonn Franson, the DNR’s wastewater engineer in Hayward.

The state requires treatment plants to reduce the "biological oxygen demand" in sewage to 30 milligrams per liter. Raw sewage is about 200 milligrams per liter. Washburn’s effluent has been averaging about 60 milligrams per liter, double the state limit.

The plant’s final disinfection, an ultra violet system, is functioning but cannot remove all the problem materials because the water is too dirty with suspended solids when it arrives.

DNR experts and private consultants have been summoned to help solve the riddle of why the once functional plant stopped working.

In March the city entirely shutdown the plant, storing incoming sewage in a lagoon temporarily, while the plant was cleaned and inspected. All equipment was checked by the manufacturers, and technical malfunctions do not appear to be the issue.

The problem is biological and chemical, not equipment. It’s a recipe you have to get right, and ours just went bad, and we just haven’t been able to get it back.

But in recent days there may be some good news. Weekly tests now show the plant’s active sludge is waking up and that the city’s effluent entering the lake may soon be within state regulations.

"It’s going to take a while to get there, and probably take several months of compliance before the state lifts the moratorium, but I’m crossing my fingers that we’re heading in the right direction," Scott Kluver, Washburn city administrator said.

"Our goal is to solve the problem, and we are working toward that. But it’s been extremely frustrating. No one can figure out what’s causing the problem," Franson said. "I’m hopeful we will get an answer any day now. But, obviously, this can’t go on forever. At some point we have to look at the city making some bigger changes or taking some action."

The village of Orfordville, Rock County has requested approval from the Department of Natural Resources to upgrade its wastewater treatment facility.

The existing treatment system equipment is nearing the end of its useful life and the existing structures require upgrades to improve operation of the biological processes.

A phased approach to the upgrade has been chosen. Initial upgrades include replacing aeration equipment and the clarifier mechanism, constructing selector basins and internal sludge storage and making structural modifications, construct a new blower building and perform electrical and equipment upgrades within the existing administration building. Excess sludge generated beyond storage capacity would be contract hauled. A new headworks building would be constructed in approximately 15 years.

The village of Orfordville will likely apply for a Wisconsin Clean Water Fund loan to help pay for the upgrade. The capital cost for the initial project is $2,162,958. The Department is soliciting public comments regarding the impacts of the proposal.

A Neenah design firm has been hired for a $147 million wastewater treatment plant project that will push sewer rates higher in a number of Brown County communities in the coming years.

The $8.28 million design contract awarded to the CH2M Hill firm is the next step in increasing the capacity of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District plant, which serves about 217,000 residents in the city, Ashwaubenon and 15 other communities. The project includes upgrades designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to capture and reuse energy from the plant, reducing the $4.4 million annual electric bill by up to half.

Design work is to last into 2014. The upgraded facility is expected to go online in 2017.

The plant also treats wastewater from Procter & Gamble under contract with the company.

Anglian Water has chosen Atlas Copco's low-pressure ZS blowers to supply air to aeration diffusers at four of its wastewater treatment redevelopment sites.

A total of 22 ZS90 variable speed drive, oil-free rotary screw displacement blowers will be installed at the sites in Colchester, Letchworth, Bedford and Flag Fen, near Peterborough, as part of the water authority's initiative to find innovative ways of reducing its energy costs.

Aearation diffuser Hydrok's product manager Mark Lunn explains that in a typical biological wastewater treatment plant, the blower system accounts for up to 70 percent of energy usage.

Anglian Water chose Hydrok's submerged, high-efficiency, bubble aeration framework systems, which incorporate bio textile curtains and fixed bed media, capable of improving air distribution. It's also why Hydrok chose Atlas Copco ZS low pressure screw blowers, which claim energy cost savings of up to 35 percent.

The blowers, fitted with weather proofing kits for external installation, are being installed at Anglian Water's wastewater plants in Flag Fen and Bedford.

Using the ZS range will also allow Anglian Water to locate the blower motor inverters, controls and condition monitoring in an Anglian Water designed purpose built MCC room. At the Letchworth and Colchester sites, the blowers will be located within an existing plant room.

In the case of the Letchworth site Anglian Water also chose to reduce installation costs by installing ZS+ blowers supplied with an integrated frequency converter that varies the speed of the 90kW motor to match changes in the blower air demand.

"These units will deliver a reliable supply of totally oil-free air, which is an important factor in our specifications, and we are confident that there will be a very positive contribution to improving energy efficiency and reducing Anglian Water's carbon footprint," states Lunn.

Under a new contract, Headworks^® will design and fabricate five Headworks Mahr^® Bar Screens for the Belmont Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) Plant in Indianapolis, IN, a project totaling close to $1 million.

The Belmont AWT Plant serves more than 449,000 homes and businesses in Indianapolis and surrounding communities. The plant, which is also combined with the sewer system in the old city limits, is over 100 years old. The system carries both sewage and stormwater in the same pipe. When operating at full capacity, the Belmont AWT Plant can treat 300 MGD during primary treatment.

The five multiple rake bar screens will measure 21 ft in height and 8 ft in width with 3/8 inch bar spacing and will each be designed to withstand peak flows of 82.5 MGD. Headworks has partnered with Thieneman Construction Inc. to replace the five year old climber type screens currently operating at the plant and startup is expected to be completed by the end of August.

When asked why the Mahr Bar Screen was selected for this project, Headworks President and CEO Michele LaNoue said, "The Belmont AWT Plant needs high quality screens that can handle a consistent amount of large debris like sticks and stones without jamming or requiring operator attention. The plant can rest assured that the screens provided by Headworks will get the job done and last for many years to come."

You can track all the water chemical bids in the new database in the report at:

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/TofC.htm

Here are the titles added since the last update.

San Diego, CA

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=2034

Abingdon, MD

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=2032

Fairmont, WV

https://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Universal_Water_Chemical/Subscriber/uwcDB/totentry.asp?ref=2029

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