July 17, 2023 |
Photo – Encampment Lagoon Project – Courtesy North Fork Engineering
Phase one of the Encampment sewer lagoon project is underway. The project engineer is confident the job will finish on time despite contractor delays early this summer.
Last October, the State Lands and Investment Board, or SLIB, granted the town of Encampment nearly $1.4 million in COVID related ARPA money to improve the town’s out-of-date sewer treatment system. Currently, the town’s sewage is piped into a series of two man-made lagoons. The first lagoon uses aeration and specialized bacteria to break down solid matter. The wastewater is then moved into a second, larger lagoon for storage while it awaits treatment using ultraviolet light.
To meet future Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the town accurately records what is entering the lagoon system. Encampment officials have used the SLIB grant to hire North Fork Engineering, out of Saratoga, to design a more effective treatment process.
North Fork Engineering’s Jon Nelson said the project is broken up into two phases. Nelson said phase one is to build a better measurement and treatment system for the town’s sewage.
Nelson said the first phase involves installing a screening system to remove any solids, such as wet wipes, before they enter the sewer lagoons. Nelson said the screens and measuring equipment will be housed in a newly constructed headworks building.
The new mechanical screening equipment scans the amount of water entering and exiting the system. When it detects a blockage, large metal scoops automatically remove the debris.
Nelson said phase one also focuses on the other end of the system. The North Fork engineer said he has designed a larger structure to house the system’s UV disinfectant lights.
Ultraviolet light kills bacteria by breaking down its DNA, preventing it from reproducing. The effect is potent enough that hospital emergency rooms and ambulances are regularly disinfected using UV light.
After running through the ultraviolet system, the treated water safely empties into the surrounding area. Nelson said when the town needed to pass wastewater through the existing disinfectant system, operators had to physically turn a valve that was not within eyesight of the outflow pipe. He said the new UV building will allow operators to automatically open and close the lagoon discharge valves from within the structure.
Nelson told Bigfoot99 that the sewer lagoon project was behind schedule. He said the contractor for job, American West Construction, should have started work early last month. Nelson said the project wasn’t at a complete standstill, but construction didn’t begin until last week.
Nelson said the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. Despite the late start, Nelson said the contractors should finish by the agreed upon date. Nelson said American West Construction has allocated a lot of resources to the job.
Nelson said the exterior of the headworks and UV buildings should be completed by the middle of next month. However, Nelson said he is still waiting for essential equipment to arrive. He said he expects the new lagoon sewer system to begin operation before Halloween.
Nelson said he is still waiting on a mag meter for the UV treatment building to arrive. A mag meter is a device that measures the rate of water flowing through the UV disinfection system. Nelson said he expects to receive the device in time to meet the October completion date.
Building and installing the new equipment in the headworks and UV buildings are just phase one of the project. Nelson said phase two would change the path sewage took through the lagoon system. When phase two is complete, Nelson said the town could opt to move wastewater directly from the treatment lagoon, or cell one, into the UV system.
Nelson said another aspect of phase two would be the installation of rubber baffles in lagoon one. He said the baffles would work like a maze, ensuring the untreated waste didn’t pass too quickly through the aeration system.
Nelson said having the sewage spend more time in lagoon one will allow the beneficial bacteria, or bugs as they’re known in the industry, more time to break down the solid waste. He said passing air through the water helps, but the bacteria handle most of the work.
Nelson said a date hasn’t been set for beginning phase two construction. He said the town is preparing the lagoon complex for the next round of EPA requirements. Nelson said the system will need to eliminate nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and other hard-to-remove macronutrients from the treated water. He said the EPA’s requirements will become stricter over time, requiring more complex solutions. However, with the upgrades he has planned, Nelson said the town’s treatment process will comply with the EPA’s future expectations.
