New York City Department of Environmental Protection: Upgrade of the Bowery Bay WPCP for Nitrogen Removal

The Bowery Bay WPCP is a conventional secondary treatment plant owned and operated by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) in Queens, New York City. The plant discharges into nutrient sensitive Long Island Sound (LIS). As a result of maximum daily effluent total nitrogen (TN) load limits into the LIS, the NYCDEP began implementing nitrogen control measures including upgrades to the step-feed biological nutrient removal (BNR). These upgrades are aimed at maximizing the nitrogen removal within the available plant infrastructure. The nitrogen facilities have been designed to produce a TN of 10 mg/l or less. This is an average of 63% reduction in the raw wastewater TN load, based on an annual average raw wastewater concentration of 27 mg/l.This paper will present innovative upgrades to the plant including wet weather operation; foam and bulking control; isolation and transport baffles and wye wall reconstruction for open water surfaces; surface wasting system and anoxic zone mixers.