- Details
- Category: Current Issue
caption:
Honored
Putnam's Water Pollution Control Authority was recently presented an award. Left to right: Mike Redulic, CT USDA; Jamie Heath, Putnam WPCA; Doug Cutler, town administrator; Jerry Beausoleil, Putnam director of Public Works. Courtesy photo.
WPCA
honored
PUTNAM — The Atlantic States Rural Water and Wastewater Association recently presented the Putnam WPCA its annual Facility Improvement Award.
The award recognizes the WPCA’s continued commitment to protecting public health and surface water quality through significant upgrades to their facilities. Recently, Putnam spent close to $19 million to upgrade their sewer facilities.
According to ASRWWA’s Executive Director Steven Levy, Putnam WPCA and their employees have made a total commitment to improve and upgrade their wastewater system, to meet the ever increasing requirements to protect the environment.
The Town of Putnam WPCA had not experienced an upgrade since it went on-line in the mid-1970s. Besides updating the aged equipment, the facility needed to incorporate low level nitrogen and phosphorus removal. The challenge was magnified as the town was experiencing difficult financial conditions.
Nevertheless, Putnam developed a solution that maximized the re-use of the existing infrastructure. This included a four-stage biological treatment process that achieves a total nitrogen removal in the 3 to 5 mg/L range and chemical phosphorus removal to meet the phosphorus limit of 0.7 mg/L. Critical financial assistance was secured by the town through ARRA grant funding and grant and loan assistance from USDA Rural Development. The facility is rated to treat an average-day design flow of 2.3 MGD of domestic and industrial wastewater.
Existing aeration tanks were retrofitted to provide a primary anoxic stage, followed by a primary aerobic stage, a secondary anoxic stage, and finally a secondary aerobic stage to provide year-round nitrification. Air produced by positive displacement blowers is distributed through fine bubble diffusers for the aerobic zones, and hyperbolic mixers are installed in each of the anoxic zones. Two new 75-foot diameter secondary clarifiers with scum skimmers are used for secondary settling. Other equipment upgrades includes influent fine screening, primary clarifier mechanisms, a belt filter press for sludge dewatering, odor control for the sludge handling process and UV disinfection.
The project is the culmination of a nitrogen study and facility planning completed in 2001 to develop a strategy to address nitrogen removal requirements associated with the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) and the State of Connecticut Nitrogen Removal Program. Total Project cost: $18.8 million.