An unintended consequence of a decision made in the 1980s by the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin, Calif., turned out to be beneficial to the agency’s urban wastewater treatment plant and the surrounding community of Mill Valley.
Faced with too much inflow to the agency’s 3.6 mgd biotower/trickling filter wastewater treatment plant during the winter rainy season, officials created two dry ponds for temporary storage of wastewater. The ponds were built between the plant and the entrance to a nearby multi-use community park. Although plant general manager Steve Danehy wasn’t on the staff at the time, he knows of the ensuing
