(7/7) In spite of heavy rains during the last week and
a half of June, changes made in the town's wastewater collection system are
already paying off - no spills in spite of the persistent deluge.
When he saw that the area was to be hit with large
amounts of rainfall, Town Manager David Haller asked that work be speeded up
along a section of the wastewater collection system being replaced through the
Waybright property to the treatment plant.
Even though the treatment plant was subsequently hit
with as much as 1.9 million gallons in one day, the new line held and the town
got through its first major storms without a sewage spill.
New line held despite storms
Although still compiling data from the more than a week
of storms, Haller said, that on Sunday, June 25 alone, the plant processed 1.9
million gallons of predominantly "wild water," well over the plant's permitted
800-gallon-per-day capacity.
During the day, rainfall amounts ranged from 2.5 inches
at the treatment plant to 5 inches at the water treatment plant, according to
Haller.
Before the storm front arrived on Friday, June 23,
Haller had already directed the construction crew working on the line and sewer
plant upgrade to cut the flow of sewage to a temporary by-pass line and let it
go through a new replacement line.
A by-pass line had been installed so that workers could
replace a section of the old line that crosses the Waybright property off
Creamery Road, the source of sewage spills going back decades.
Dealing with potential 'wastewater geysers'
The main problem along the Waybright section of the
line was a missing valve which either never installed in a vault in the 1980s
when the system was constructed, or had been subsequently removed.
Haller had stated he felt that replacing this section
of the line would remedy 90 percent or more of the town's sewage spills. He
chose to have an all-pressure line from the town to the plant, eliminating the
gravity-fed section, and the need for a valve.
To prevent wastewater geysers erupting at the treatment
plant because of the pressurized line, Haller had the wastewater routed to the
bottom of a partially filled tank. The water already standing in the tank
counteracts the force of the pressurized wastewater coming into it and
disperses the energy.
Haller said he expects the work on the system overhaul,
including treatment plant alterations, to be completed in 30-90 days, depending
on system testing.
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