Design Adds Needed Capacity

The Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority faced a serious problem in 1997.  The Authority’s water pollution control plant (WPCP) was beginning to violate its discharge permit and needed expansion. The Authority did not have the time or the financing in place to plan and implement a complete facility expansion.

Envirosmith performed a preliminary process analysis and developed a plan to expand the WPCP to its ultimate future capacity.  To meet the Authority’s immediate needs, Envirosmith recommended replacing existing, undersized secondary clarifiers with new, state-of-the-art units that would be compatible with future facility expansions.  Envirosmith designed the new clarifiers and provided engineering services during construction and startup.

The new clarifiers went into service in April 2000.  Just before they went on line, the WPCP was producing treated effluent with 5-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) values of 20 to 30 mg/l and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) of  25 to 35 mg/L.  Immediately after the new clarifiers went on line, effluent BOD was 4 to 9 mg/L and TSS was 5 to 10 mg/L.  In the month following commissioning, a major storm stressed the WPCP to three times its design capacity, and the clarifiers still produced effluent BOD of 7 to 12 mg/L and TSS of 7 to 11 mg/L.

Email: jimson@mindspring.com