Wastewater Treatment Plant construction began September 28, 2011 with mobilization, excavation and demolition of old equipment. During the last four months, 40,000 yards of earth have been removed from the site and stored on property owned by Larry Hughes to use for future backfilling around the new treatment system.
The old primary clarifier, trickling filter, and secondary clarifier, which were installed in 1956, were demolished and removed. Excavation walls were soiled and nailed for shoring, so the sides will not cave in. Forming began shortly after all of the excavation was done, rebar has been tied, and 3,140 yards of concrete has been poured so far. New gas lines have been installed as well as a temporary house water line. Dewatering of the sight is performed non-stop to a tune of 50,000 to 400,000 gallons per day.
The project has moved along smoothly. There is a good working relationship between wastewater treatment staff and Moltz Construction, as well as the City’s engineering firm Schmueser Gordon and Meyer with on site engineer Dave Shepherd.
During construction, the plant built in 1985 is treating waste really well. We will see how this goes when the flows increase in the spring, but right now, the plant is working extremely well. Plant staff has been working closely with project manager Ted Senter and job superintendent Chad Carter to make sure we are completely involved in project decisions.
Soon treatment basins that have been poured will need to be leak tested. Equipment – pumps, piping, blowers and fittings – show up at the job sight non-stop. It seems as fast as parts show up, they are being installed.
With construction, some of our services have been temporarily postponed such as dumping of charter buses and RVs. We are still working with septage haulers and trying to keep the septage dump stations functioning. We should be able to continue to dump rafting groovers; we just have to handle them a little differently than we did since access through the site is limited.
Overall, the project is moving along well, and we are excited to see the progress over the following months. Most of all, we are excited to see the new treatment process come together. With the new system, we will be able to put a really good effluent back into the Arkansas River, and being able to remove the nutrients from the effluent is our number one goal. The process that we are putting in will work effectively, and we will keep citizens up to date on construction.
We still have biosolids available for give away from the 2010 season, and we are getting ready to test the 2011 biosolids for give away this year.
Randy Sack, Wastewater Treatment Plant Director