By JONATHAN SNYDER
The wastewater treatment plant is getting new upgrades for 2025.
The wastewater treatment plant’s renovation project looks to put all the labs and processes for treating wastewater into one big plant, instead of the traditional two plant system.
The construction crew is currently tearing down the original plant built in the 1960s and the facility built in the ’90s will go offline once the new structure is built. A new pump station for sewage flow is in the works, alongside new circular clarifiers for further polishing of the wastewater. Construction is expected to be finished on July 24, 2025.
While the new system keeps a similar process for removing the solids and cleaning of wastewater overall, the new updates will make treatment less reliant on chemicals and make it a more biological one according to Tony Fey, plant supervisor.
The oxidation ditch is one of the bigger additions to the plant. The ditch is meant to be a more biological and eco-friendly treatment than the current aeration basins used now. The oxidation ditch will better manage the rainwater flow so the bugs that eat the waste chemicals have the food they need to survive. Water stays in the oxidation ditch for a longer period of time than aeration basins, giving the bugs more opportunity to feed on the waste products in the water.
“That’s what’s cleaning our water is those bugs,” said Kelly White, engineer for the city of Bluffton. “They’re good bugs. So you’ve got to make sure that the environment is good for the bugs.”
The project comes at a great time for the city, as many of their systems are nearing the end of life tag. Asset management plans help the city see the life cycle of different structures and parts, which allows them to know when things need replacing.
“The equipment itself … some can have 50 years, some can have 20 years (of life),” said White.
Overall, the project is meant to be a proactive move to prevent any major issues and damage, according to White. Even though the sewage system is an afterthought for most citizens, the last thing White wants to see is something failing, which would prevent citizens from flushing toilets and negatively affect the environment.
“You don’t want something to fail when you could have prevented it five years ago,” said White. “We do asset management plans … so we tag the different pieces of equipment so we understand specifically when the end of life is for a certain piece of equipment.”
At the moment, construction is progressing smoothly. The James S. Jackson Construction company and DLZ, the head of construction and the design engineering groups respectively, have found cost savings to put back into the project. Over $610,000 worth of value was discovered in a recent Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.
“We’re ahead of schedule and we are on budget,” said White. “Everybody is willing to brainstorm and come up with really good solutions (by) making sure we’re providing the best product for the city of Bluffton.”
jonathan@news-banner.com
