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The West Point Treatment Plant (WPTP) of King County, WA, has a rated capacity of 215 mgd under maximum month condition and 440 mgd at peak. It provides secondary treatment of flows up to 300 mgd using a high-purity oxygen (HPO) activated sludge process. The plant recently suffered a power failure and subsequent effluent pumping and control system failures, leading to the flooding of the...

The Stormwater Phase II Final Rule, which applies to small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) in "urbanized areas", requires communities across the country to adopt local legislation that will control the harmful effects of stormwater runoff and prohibit non-stormwater pollution from entering the drainage system. Adopting a thoughtful and comprehensive stormwater by-law may be the most...

The United Kingdom's ageing sewerage infrastructure meant that by the late 20th century the country was facing a major environmental problem associated with storm sewage discharges from more than 8,000 unsatisfactory combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Addressing this problem presented a major challenge to the UK water industry, but it is a challenge that has been met by a combination of farsighted...

Problems with eutrophication and algae blooms initiated the need for enhanced nutrient removal at European wastewater treatment plants in the end of the eighties. When upgrading the two WWTPs in Malmö, site specific upgrading concepts had to be considered because of the existing plant structures. As phosphorus removal already was implemented, the upgrading was focused on enhanced nitrogen...

The use of Membrane Bio-Reactors (MBR) in activated sludge wastewater treatment has grown significantly in the last decade. While there is growing awareness and knowledge about the application of MBR technology in municipal wastewater treatment, not much information is available on the application of MBR in industrial wastewater treatment. A comparative study of 24 MBR plants both municipal and...

Many combined sewer communities in the United States require reporting CSO discharges to a state regulatory agency on a regular basis to satisfy National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements. Typically, these requirements include gathering discharge data using automatic flow meters in each outfall and developing the CSO discharge monitoring reports (DMR). The city of...

Groundwaters from the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site, Aurora, CO, have been treated using a UV catalyzed hydrogen peroxide advanced oxidation process, which has had difficulty removing 1,4-dioxane to low levels due to UV absorbance by the waters. Parsons performed a bench study to investigate biological degradation of the target compound. Parsons ran up to seven bench scale conventional activated...

Groundwater from the Lowry Landfill Superfund Site just outside of Denver, CO, has been treated using a UV catalyzed hydrogen peroxide advanced oxidation process, which has had difficulty removing a target compound (1,4-dioxane) from some Site groundwater streams to low levels due to UV absorbance/interference issues. Bench-scale studies were completed to investigate biological degradation of the...

In about 2002, DC Water (Washington, D.C.) began a process control system (PCS) automation project at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. The $34 million, 10-year project was designed to provide comprehensive monitoring of the facility hydraulics from influent to final discharge. It also included alarm states, equipment on/off condition, flows, tank levels, and such qualitative information as dissolved oxygen, chlorine residual, and ammonia concentrations. Also, collection and storage of historical data performance began as soon as loop testing confirmed that inputs received by PCS were valid. This was better information than had been available for decision-making prior to PCS.However, installing and operating this core system, while quite a leap forward, simply set the stage for Blue Plains staff to continue to add to and learn from the PCS. This system enables the operations and maintenance groups to control the overall facility and help coordinate large and changing upgrades and modifications. One of the early and successful goals was for DC Water to be largely self-sufficient in the operation and expansion of the PCS.At present, the Operations Director estimates that more than 99% of the operating facility is monitored or controlled from the central control room. In his opinion, “PCS is certainly an integral part of our DNA and we cannot imagine operating without it. Especially true for the new processes we have installed.”

Since its inception, the land application program at the Landis Sewerage Authority (LSA) has had to adapt to numerous New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) nutrient management policy changes and public acceptance issues to ensure the integration of high environmental quality, public health, and economic viability. These goals have been met through a combination of innovative...

In May 2015, Alexandria Renew Enterprises (AlexRenew), a 54 MGD advanced resource recovery facility, started up a centrate pretreatment (CPT) system. This system utilizes the sidestream deammonification process (DEMON®) to remove nitrogen in the centrate that results from dewatering anaerobically-digested sludge. Ammonia removal rate has averaged 90% ranging between 77% and 97% and TN removal...

To prevent the flooding and loss of 50 million worth of equipment in an underground nickel mine, a new effluent water treatment plant (EWTP) was design, procured, built, and commissioned in 20-days. The mine's interim tailings storage facility which was storing the dewatering water was full, and the mine was unable to meet its discharge permit without the construction of the EWTP. The EWTP...