Nobody offers the service we do.
We work with wastewater operators to make their wastewater treatment facilities perform in ways not imagined possible.
EPA recognizes the opportunities for getting nutrient removal out of treatment facilities not designed to do so.
Links to additional fact sheets describing our work in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montana, and Tennessee are provided below.
CONNECTICUT
PLAINFIELD, CONNECTICUT (population 15,000) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
A new $45 million facility was proposed by another consultant to replace Plainfield’s two 35-year old activated sludge plants. Optimization efforts demonstrated how both facilities are able to meet new nitrogen and phosphorus limits. Now, instead of replacing the plants, they are being kept in service at a savings of $40 million. Mechanical aerators are cycled at the 1.0 MGD Plainfield North to create habitats for ammonia and nitrate removal. The gravity thickener at the 0.5 MGD Plainfield Village plant ferments waste to provide the ingredients for biological phosphorus removal and optimize biological nitrogen removal.
KANSAS
GREAT BEND, KANSAS (population 15,400) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
By investing $50,000 in instrumentation and control systems and operating the city’s oxidation ditch wastewater treatment facility differently than designed, Great Bend is now removing phosphorus so efficiently that a $6.0 million facility upgrade is no longer under consideration.
MASSACHUSETTS
MONTAGUE, MASSACHUSETTS (population 8,500) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
In lieu of a $4.5 million facility upgrade suggested by another consultant, we worked with plant staff to operate the 1.8 MGD facility in a sequenced aeration mode of Montague’s design. Motor-operated valves were installed on existing equipment and in-line ORP instruments were installed and connected to SCADA. The facility is Effluent nitrogen averages 5 mg/L; effluent phosphorus averages 0.85 mg/L. Operating costs have been reduced by a remarkable $100,000 per year. Newspaper article (PDF)
SUNDERLAND, MASSACHUSETTS
Sometimes it doesn’t take a major plant upgrade to drive down the nutrient content of effluent and improve overall plant performance. Bob Gabry, chief operator at the Sunderland (Massachusetts) Wastewater Treatment Plant, will gladly so attest. Magazine Article (link)
WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS (population 42,000) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
Thousands of dollars per month in chemical savings have been realized by fermenting sludge in a storage tank. The VFA-rich sludge is pumped to the swing zone in a 6.1 MGD facility designed for nitrogen removal using the MLE process. The pre-anaerobic tank is mixed by a creative coarse bubble modification to the fine bubble diffuser system. A total-phosphorus limit of 1.0 mg/L is being met more sustainably, at far less cost, without capital investment.
MONTANA
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Read Full Case Study (PDF)
An investment in wastewater operator training and technical support is sustainably improving water quality in the State of Montana. The combined efforts and expertise of Montana regulators and municipal wastewater treatment plant operators have given renewed evidence to support the position that operational optimization is an extremely potent and effective alternative to massive capital improvement projects.
BIG SKY, MONTANA (population 2,300) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
A greater focus on process control reduced total-nitrogen by 75% at the 0.75 MGD sequencing batch reactor (SBR) that serves the resort community of Big Sky. Plant staff purchased a portable ORP meter and vials for the benchtop spectrophotometer in dialing in nitrogen removal.
HELENA, MONTANA (population 30,000) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
Total nitrogen has declined from 7 mg/L to 5; total phosphorus has improved from 3 mg/L to less than 2.0 mg/L, averaging 0.5 mg/L during summer months when liquid sludge is hauled off-site for disposal.
CONRAD, MONTANA (population 2,600) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
Aeration of the modified lagoons cycles on for 2 hours and off of 1.5 hours. The air-off cycles promote nitrate-nitrogen removal; reducing the total-N to 3.5 mg/L. And, significantly reducing the electric bill.
CHINOOK, MONTANA (population 1,200) Read Full Case Study (PDF)
The oxidation ditches’ mechanical aerators are cycled on and off for total-N removal. Effluent total-N dropped 50%.
TENNESSEE
TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION Read Full Case Study (PDF)
One year of training and technical support demonstrated the nitrogen removal capabilities of existing wastewater treatment plants. Electrical Savings of $250,000 per year at Cookeville. Chemical Savings of thousands of dollars per year at Athens.
We encourage you to ask any of our clients how they came to realize superior results at fantastic savings.