Computer pop-ups flag required maintenance tasks. A trivia contest stresses safety. The compost site collects and treats its own leachate. A grease control program converts a problem substance into biodiesel fuel.
It’s just another day of normal operation at the Wahoo Creek Water Pollution Control Plant, operated by Newnan Utilities in Newnan, Ga. The plant won a 2008 U.S. EPA Clean Water Recognition Award for operations and maintenance and recently was named Georgia Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Year by the Georgia Association of Water Professionals.
“We were really pleased to win these awards,” says Brandon Lovett, director of water operations. “We’re proud of our operation and our people. We put a lot of effort into making our plant the best it can be.”
Lovett, along with wastewater plant supervisor Matt Kuehl, wastewater supervisor Todd Scarbrough, engineering manager Ed Strong, and administrative coordinator Katie Alexander, have built an impressive system of innovations that help them safely and successfully manage an average flow of 2.45 mgd. Many of their programs are models for others to follow.
The plant, a biological nutrient removal facility, dates to 1974. Along with a smaller companion Mineral Springs treatment plant, it serves about 27,000 people and several industries in Newnan, 35 miles south of Atlanta.
Beneficial biosolids
At Wahoo Creek, raw wastewater climbs up screw lift pumps to the headworks, where a pair of bar screens remove trash and debris, and an aerated grit collector removes grit. Lime slurry added to the influent channel bumps up the pH.
There are no primary clarifiers; flow passes directly to an anoxic basin that provides an oxygen-deprived environment for phosphorus removal. The wastewater then passes to an oxygen-rich aerobic zone, where bacteria remove ammonia. The treated water settles in a series of biological and chemical clarifiers.
Alum is added to flocculate and remove the phosphorus. The flow is chlorinated and then dechlorinated with sulfur dioxide before cascading through a re-aeration structure into Wahoo Creek, part of the Chattahoochee River basin.
For years, the Wahoo Creek plant sent biosolids to landfill. “But in 2006, we announced a long-term, practical solution for biosolids reuse with the development of our composting program,” says Lovett. “Our composting site provides an alternative landfill, solidifying our position of accountable environmental management.”
After dewatering on belt presses, the 16 percent biosolids cake is trucked to the utility-owned compost site about 10 miles from the treatment plant.
“Wahoo Creek biosolids are mixed with biosolids from the Mineral Springs plant, and also with green waste from road crews and other Newnan utility partner agencies,” says Kuehl. “Then it cures for about 180 days into an exceptional-quality product. So far we’ve been using the material ourselves to landscape the road cut into the compost site, but we want to take the product public very soon. We need to get it into the distribution channels.” Capacity is about 11,000 cubic yards of Class A compost per year.
During the construction of the compost site, neighbors expressed concern about leachate contaminating the groundwater. “In response, we designed a collection system for the leachate and septic tank to hold it,” says Kuehl. “Then it’s pumped back to the treatment plant for processing. Nothing drains from the site.”
Always on time
The Wahoo Creek plant staff takes the same painstaking approach to O&M. “To begin with, we have a maintenance contract with ITT-Flygt for all our submersible pumps,” says Kuehl. “They’re great people to work with.”
But the maintenance program doesn’t stop there. Alexander is responsible for an all-encompassing program built around an automated database containing all of the equipment manufacturers’ specifications and O&M manuals. The program serves both the Wahoo Creek and Mineral Springs plants.
“We use Microsoft Outlook and Excel spreadsheets to track all equipment maintenance procedures and automatically generate e-mails to the staff ordering scheduled O&M procedures,” Alexander says. “If a piece of equipment needs lubricating, that order pops up on the operator’s screen.”
The system also generates a maintenance report detailing what work was done and how much the repair or maintenance procedure cost. “That’s the real value of the system,” says Kuehl. “It tells us what we’ve budgeted per month or per quarter for maintaining a blower or other unit, and how much we’re spending on maintenance. That way, we can determine when it’s more cost-effective to replace a piece of equipment rather than continuing repairing it. We can track the break-even point for replacement.”
The inspectors evaluating the plant for awards credited Wahoo Creek for its maintenance program. “They said it was outstanding compared to what they’d seen in the past, and we received bonus points for it,” Lovett says.
Safety first
When Alexander isn’t implementing the O&M system, she’s coming up with creative ways to keep safety top-of-mind among staff members. “I think we’ve really taken safety to the next level here,” says Lovett. “We’re doing a great job in this area, and we have had no lost time accidents in several years.”
To say Alexander is enthused about safety is an understatement. She lives it, and her creative ideas not only transfer that passion to others but make it fun. Plant staffers participate in a Safety Lunchbox the last Wednesday of every month. Topics range from self-contained breathing apparatus to DOT flagging to a CPR refresher.
Alexander stresses a hands-on approach. “We used to have a lot of lectures, but it’s better for our crews to participate in hands-on learning,” she says. One program involves going to a site and actually digging a trench box to practice trenching safety. The safety team also conducts unannounced spot audits, visiting a site once per quarter, reviewing safety, and writing a report and following up on any deviations or violations.
There’s more. Every July, Alexander orchestrates a veritable safety fair: In a trivia contest, employees must beat a time deadline and answer safety questions that pop up on their computers. Those who answer correctly become eligible for a drawing for prizes donated by area merchants. There’s a drawing every hour for four days. The last hour of every day, Alexander conducts a free drawing in which everyone is eligible.
A game based on the TV game show “Jeopardy” tests employees’ safety knowledge by asking questions on such topics as confined-space entry. Eight teams of employees sit around a table and punch a buzzer if they have the answer. If they’re correct, they can choose the next topic. Teams take on humorous names like Close Enough Locators. Says Alexander, “Our people get really enthusiastic about getting the right answer. It’s like excited chaos.”
Creating a blueprint
A new Safety Caching game will ask employees to use their GPS to find clues around the community, leading to further clues and ultimately to a prize for the employee who solves the clues the fastest. At the end, a key opens a box containing the final question — about safety — which must be answered correctly for the prize to be awarded.
“Safety is critical to our operation,” says Alexander, “and I guess I’m just a creative person. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to develop these ideas.”
The plant’s recent recognition reflects hard work and innovation on the part of the staff, Lovett believes. “Winning these awards was a great learning experience,” he says. “Not only has our plant gained national recognition competing against hundreds of other plants, but the work we’ve put into it will allow for more efficient regular inspections and many other worthwhile benefits.”
Says Kuehl, “We now have a blueprint we can use for years to come. Our processes fall in line with our mission to protect the environment. It’s helped us go above the call of duty in processing healthy water to be passed along to future generations.”
