Flood Recovery by the Book, While Writing the Book. Recovery and Start up of the Nashville Central WWTP Biosolids Facility

On May 1, 2010 numerous streams and the Cumberland River flooded Nashville, TN along with surrounding areas in the worst flooding in more than half a century. The Metro Water Services Central WWTP Biosolids Facility was left under 3 feet of water, without power, and severely damaged. Metro staff members worked tirelessly to salvage equipment, remove water and prevent further damage. Once the waters receded Metro Water was left without a functional biosolids processing facility. The Solids Facility is a 137 DT per day facility that processes Primary and Waste Activated Sludge from the Central WWTP, located adjacent to the facility, and the Whites Creek WWTP located approximately 10 miles from the facility. This recovery project identified a number design and start-up lessons including the importance of having flexible pumping and valving of sludge, the value of electronic O&M's and design documents, the need to resist the pressure to restart everything without planning, testing and monitoring, the value of a critical failure analysis and the importance of communication during a recovery period.