Amador County – Jackson City Council last week took a virtual tour of the municipal wastewater treatment plant, to get an idea of the root of some of the cities recent problems, and look at what lies ahead as the city plans for a new plant.
City Manager Mike Daly introduced Chief Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Eric Neuschmid, who has been with the city for a year, and helped meet new legislative requirements on the plant’s discharge into Jackson Creek. Daly said now he is helping as the city starts planning toward a new plant that would discharge onto land.
Daly said the city plant treats between “400,000 gallons a day, up to 2 million gallons a day, depending on rainfall.”
Neuschmid helped the plant get a second “oxidation ditch” operating, which takes about a month to start up, he said, as they must cultivate the microorganisms that live within and which in effect eat and cleanse impurities as part of the system.
He said the ditches are constantly monitored for dissolved oxygen levels, to “make sure your bugs are healthy.” He said “you can kill off the bugs and you can have a dead system in a day or 2.” A slide presentation showed a “floc mass,” the activated sludge, which Newschmid said is “like cooking,” and “kind of an art form” to develop sludge microorganisms.
He uses a microscope to assess the floc, and in the lab tests ammonia and nitrate and other content levels. He said they switched in the last year to remove “caustic sodas” from the plant, saving about $100,000 a year in the process. Daly said having both oxidation ditches running at the same time also helped with costs.
Neuschmid said you also “can’t have too many bugs, and you can’t have too few,” so they are constantly killing off some to balance the levels.
Daly said 24/7 sensor analysis has a pager and call-out system if anything needs attention. Neuschmid said “this is another area where we are antiquated. Most places have SCADA.” He said a lot of times when you respond to alarms, you don’t know what has gone wrong, but it would be nice to know. He said SCADA allows that, and also allows remote adjustments and changes. Daly said the system is 26 or 27 years old.
A resulting, “earthy smelling” sludge separated from the water is taken to a Class B waste facility in Stockton, and it fills a tractor trailer bin once a week, at costs of about $50,000 a year, Daly said. Neuschmid said the Stockton facility likely applies the sludge to land, something the city has as its goal in a new system.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
