Operators at the Courtland Wastewater Reclamation Facility had a lot to learn when their brand new five-stage Bardenpho plant started up in 2010. Now, having mastered the new processes, they’re in the driver’s seat. That’s because any expansion of the plant, which has a modular plug-and-play design, will simply involve more of the same.
A thorough training program has been the key. The transition was difficult, recalls Raymond Bryant, chief systems operator at the 1.25 mgd (design) plant, in Southampton County, Va. The county’s old plant was a 0.3 mgd oxidation ditch with sludge drying beds. “We’d never seen this new process before, myself included,” Bryant says. “But we have a good bunch of guys who are dedicated to wastewater treatment.”
Video shot by Rob Ostermaier