Amador County – The Sutter Creek Sewer Committee earlier this month received an update on the city sewer plant operation and expansion.
Senior operations specialist Wyatt Troxel gave a status report November 9th on recommended remedies, noting that “several designs and operating conditions” at the “Sutter Creek wastewater treatment plant have led to continued or repeated violation of various discharge” limits. Modifications at the plant, such as using a storage basin as an aeration pond, and changing the “digester” system, led to the violations.
Troxel, of Integrated Resource Management LLC of Claremont, said that in June and July his company evaluated the operation of the wastewater treatment plant, then made some changes, and recommended others.
The aeration process “has been taken off line,” and “turned off, except for minor periods of aeration to maintain fresh water on the surface of the lagoon.” Troxel said it “reduced the electrical demand of the process by about $6,000 per month.” The aerating system “will be used only for emergency storage and treatment of excessive flow, such as during high rain events.”
A procedure to routinely flush a filter has “slightly improved the quality of the water discharging” to a digester system. Troxel said a deteriorated “flood gate” needs to be refurbished. He also recommended a new type of spray system to “increase treatment capacity and performance.”
Troxel said he also installed “a more appropriate sludge pump” to “control the sludge in the digester and eliminate a problem with sludge accumulating on the floor of the clarifier.”
He said “recommendations are being followed to install a polymer feed system to further improve clarifier performance,” and “perforated tubing” around the perimeter to add a chlorine solution. The changes would help prevent unwanted “biological growth” in the digester.
The report said the design of the plant’s “chlorine contact channel” was “inherently problematic” and “requires a variety of improvements, yet to be fully developed.” Troxel said “improvements in chlorine control have been discussed.”
“The remaining effort is to develop written procedures to support the new operating plan,” Troxel said. “Work has already begun to outline” both routine and emergency procedures. The descriptions will be “reviewed and annotated by the operations staff as they are developed.”
The report said the “procedures will create the basis for a Consolidated Facility Management Plan,” including an “overview of the wastewater treatment plant,” which can be updated as “conditions, equipment and facilities are modified.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
