The Wastewater Utility Department is divided into two divisions: (1) the
Plant Division and (2) the Systems Division. An enterprise fund, the stated
intent of this Department is to produce and deliver water to the customers
of the Utility and to pay for the costs of providing the service through user
charges.
The City's wastewater is collected in approximately 65 miles of sewer line.
It is treated utilizing activated sludge with aeration. Since the Wastewater
Treatment Plant was remodeled in 1998, it can successfully treat 1.2 million
gallons per day. This will enable the City to service a population of approximately
10,000 or treat large industrial users. The Plant uses a bag de-watering system
for disposing of sludge that is then spread on agricultural land. This system
will allow the City to meet its State mandated requirements for wastewater
treatment and disposal.
The responsibility for overseeing the day to day functions of the Wastewater Utility falls on the Director of Plant Operations and the Director of Systems Operations.
Three full-time employees, including one plant journey foreman and two journey
operators, ensure the quality and quantity of wastewater being treated, provide
routine preventive maintenance, make minor repairs to the Wastewater Treatment
Plant, and repair and maintain the various pieces of equipment associated
with wastewater treatment. In addition, their responsibilities include the
sampling and analysis of wastewater. The Plant is capable of treating 900,000
gallons and 1.3 million gallons of extraneous water per day. The Plant utilizes
an activated sludge with aeration. The sludge is de-watered and stored in
bags until it can be spread on agricultural land.
The responsibilities of the Wastewater System Division fall on three full-time
employees, including one system journey foreman and two journey operators.
They provide the daily maintenance and repair necessary to properly operate
the system. It is also this crew's responsibility to provide preventive maintenance
to all sewer mains and manholes within the system, requiring trouble areas
to be cleaned and flushed on a regular basis, as well as routine flushing
and cleaning of all lines through a systematic program. Wastewater Operations
have shown an increase in repairs and testing over the last several years.
This crew also performs construction tasks such as the installation of an
new sewer main.
Our plant is what is called an Activated sludge plant. This means that our plant is fed with air from which we have 3 blowers to produce the air for the plant. Our plant uses many holding basins: center aeration, north and south aeration, north and south clarifiers, two digesters and a storm water holding tank.
Nature is our helper, meaning that the natural process of decomposing is at work here. Our helpers are bacteria and microorganisms. They are fed with the food they get from the waste and we supply the air to help them stay alive and eat the waste product to reduce the waste in size, thus making a more stable solid.
Our last stage of the treatment process leads to our digester. We call the product in the digester sludge. The sludge is run through a mono-belt filter press and then put into our drying beds. After the dried sludge is stored for awhile, it is applied to the farm ground.
The holding capacity of the plant is 1.2 million gallons and is capable of handling 2.2 million gallons of water if need be. The average influent flows vary from 300.000 GPD to 400.000 GPD entering and leaving the plant. Detention (holding) time per gallon of waste in the plant is 18 hours. This means on average, a gallon of waste won't leave the plant as effluent until it has been detained for 18 hours. This allows the waste particles to completely settle out and leave water as the end product.
Our plant is closely monitored through our daily lab testing, monthly samples being sent in for testing, adjustments to the plant and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Our job is to make sure the Health and Environment of our Community and persons down stream of us are protected. This means taking in raw water and releasing it to a receiving stream as clean, quality water that has been disinfected as well with an ultraviolet disinfecting system.
The water that is released from the plant is called effluent water and is basically pure. The effluent water that leaves the plant goes to the Solomon River and in the summer months, is pumped to the Beloit Country Club where it is used to keep the golf course watered. We are very proud of the effluent water that is leaving the plant. Our test results average 0.5 parts per million to not being detected of any solids leaving the plant.
