A needed upgrade planned for all things down the drain

By Lauren Heaton

Few people like to talk about what happens to the stuff that gets flushed down the toilet or washed down the drain, and even fewer people like to pay for it. But the Village of Yellow Springs wastewater treatment plant, which is currently out of compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations and guilty of passing more than its fair share of bacteria, ammonia and other unsavory compounds down to Yellow Springs Creek, has long been in need of attention, Water and Wastewater Superintendent Joe Bates said last week.

Last month the Village learned that Yellow Springs is due to receive grant money from the Ohio Public Works Commission to pay for almost half of the $2.2 million needed to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant. The Village is scheduled to receive from the OPWC $1.12 million by July 2009, or earlier if funding becomes available before then. The other half is expected to be covered by public bonds, Village Manager Eric Swansen said on Monday.

Driving the urgency of the wastewater plant improvement is a new set of EPA regulations that reduces the amount of phosphorous allowed in the effluent (discharge) from wastewater plants and other point sources into the streams and rivers, Bates said. In addition, however, the Yellow Springs plant is not big enough to properly treat the large volume of wastewater delivered through the collection system during heavy rainfall, and is also prone to mechanical failures due to postponed maintenance to the facility. For both reasons, he said, the plant is sometimes forced to pass nearly raw sewage into the creek and eventually out to the Little Miami River.

According to Bates, the EPA requested in 2006 that the Village establish engineering plans by September 2007 to upgrade the plant, which the Village failed to do because of financial constraints. The new EPA permit takes effect in September 2008, and while the Village is making headway toward the transition, both Swansen and Bates expect to request an extension to secure financing and create plans for the upgrade.

According to a preliminary analysis prepared by Village Consulting Engineer John Eastman, of LJB Inc., the recommended upgrade includes a six-fold plan to install facilities to handle excess flow and implement phosphorous treatment as well as address general maintenance issues that have arisen since the plant was last upgraded in 1988.

First on the list is installing a 6,000 cubic yard overflow basin adjacent to the plant on Grinnell Road, at an estimated cost of $250,000. The basin would hold excess water during times of heavy rain and send it through the plant at a moderated rate after the rains subside, Bates said. The excessive flow is exacerbated by an old and leaky sewer collection system that allows stormwater inflow and infiltration to enter into the sewer collection system and on to the wastewater treatment plant. However, according to assistant Village Planner Ed Amrhein, addressing the problem at the treatment plant is much more time- and cost-effective than digging up the streets to plug the holes.

Next, to extract phosphorous, the plant will need a new set of biological treatment tanks with a patented process and computer automated controls, which is slated to cost $380,000. Adding these automated systems, while costing up front, would reduce the need for constant aeration and would in the long run save the Village in both maintenance and electrical energy costs, which is one of the highest costs of running a wastewater treatment plant, Bates said.

A series of additional upgrades to the older headworks and clarifier systems will increase the cost by another $475,000.

While the upgrades have been put off due to financial issues, the Village is in a slightly better position now after just last week paying off the debt from the previous 30-year bond on a set of improvements made to the plant in the 1980s, Swansen said.

The Village hopes to be able to secure public financing for the project and get final design plans from an engineering firm in 2008, and be prepared to begin construction on the plant should the grant money come early, as OPWC staff member Zach Balassone said was a possibility.

In the interim, Bates said he could treat the wastewater for phosphorous using chemicals until the biological process is installed. But the overflow issue will still put the plant out of compliance, and Swansen said the Village would have to work with the EPA until the improvements can be made.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com