Wastewater Treatment Plants

Dalton Utilities operates three wastewater treatment plants, a 9,200-acre Land Application System, and a state-of-the-art sludge processing facility. Additionally, the Utility runs a composting operation using the solids from the wastewater treatment process and combining them with organic materials. This wastewater system serves approximately 11,137 customers, processing 30 to 40 million gallons of wastewater per day on average. Some 87 percent of this waste load is industrial. Upon the completion of our Riverbend Road Wastewater Plant in 2002, Dalton Utilities’ overall wastewater treatment capacity was increased to 50 million gallons per day (MGD).

Since January 1997, Dalton Utilities has increased its investment in wastewater assets 90% with capital expenditures approaching $110 million, resulting in a quantum improvement in operational performance. Dalton Utilities is dedicated to conserving and protecting our region's limited natural resources. This commitment, along with the ongoing re-investment in our systems and operations, enables Dalton Utilities to keep pace with the region's growing wastewater needs, both present and future.

Operating 24 hours a day, Dalton Utilities’ three wastewater treatment plants process an average of 31 MGD of raw wastewater daily. Dalton Utilities completed its 20 MGD wastewater treatment plant on Riverbend Road in October 2002 – completely rebuilding it to mirror the technology used in our Looper's Bend 20 MGD Treatment Plant (located on the Land Application System). Both plants, as well as our Abutment Road Treatment Plant, use diffused air technology to treat wastewater.

RIVERBEND EQUALIZATION BASIN
The Equalization Basin provides for peak loading and overflow protection for both the Riverbend Road and Loopers Bend wastewater treatment plants. Because our wastewater demand is mostly industrial, flow to our plants drops dramatically over the weekend when industry is not as active. Because our treatment process uses microorganisms who feed off of the wastewater, this dramatic drop on the weekends causes stress to the biological population of the wastewater plants. An equalization basin allows for storage of raw wastewater during the week which can be used on weekends to augment flow, thereby keeping the plant and its biological population balanced and running smoothly.

RIVERBEND ROAD WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT FACTS:

• $21,956,187 expended
• Construction began in September 2000 and completed in October 2002
• Plant utilizes diffused air technology, employing 42,000 air diffusers along the bottom of its four basins
• Fine Screen Building - The plant is equipped with self-cleaning screens which filter all raw wastewater coming to the Riverbend and Loopers Bend plants for lint and other nonorganic particles before introducing the raw wastewater into the aeration basins for treatment. The screens filter down to 20/1000 of an inch.

RIVERBEND PLANT EQUALIZATION BASIN FACTS:

• $6,901,700 expended
• Construction began in March 2003 and was completed in February 2004
• The EQ Basin utilizes diffused air technology, employing 3,960 diffusers, and has a capacity of 10.25 million gallons

LOOPERS BEND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT FACTS:

• $18,390,955 expended
• Construction began in May 1998 and concluded February 2000
• Plant utilizes diffused air technology, employing 42,000 air diffusers along the bottom of its four basins

Land Application System Redesign and Improvements

In 1951, the Water, Light and Sinking Fund Commission took over the City of Dalton's sewer system. Today, the system operates as the backbone of the carpet industry and includes one of the nation's largest forested Land Application Systems. Dalton Utilities operates Georgia’s largest (and one of the nation’s largest) Land Application System (LAS) which distributes treated wastewater over its 9,200-acre site. This forested system, in addition to treating and recycling wastewater, has the added benefit of creating a wildlife habitat. Each year, birdwatchers and environmentalists from around the state come to see the many hawks, wild turkey, rare birds, deer and coyote that populate the LAS's 9,200 acres.

The Dalton LAS is recognized as being a pioneer in this innovative technology that allows treated wastewater to be recycled through natural means rather than discharged directly into the surface waters. The facility, located in South Whitfield County and Northern Murray County, sprays treated wastewater over plant life and soils for further treatment and cleansing rather than discharging the treated wastewater directly back to surface waters.

When the LAS was constructed in 1986, land application was an innovative approach to wastewater management. As with most new technologies, many changes and improvements have been made to land application treatment systems since 1986. All of these new advances were carefully examined and considered when redesigning and improving Dalton Utilities' LAS.

Dalton Utilities’ LAS is so innovative that management from other Land Application Systems visit Dalton's LAS to observe the many improvements. Dalton Utilities' redesigned and improved Land Application System is considered a "model" facility by its contemporaries in wastewater treatment.

LAS Fast Facts:

• $26,728,056 - total expended on redesign and rebuilding
• Project completed in July 1999, 13 months ahead of schedule.
• Replaced an 8-square-mile area of aluminum pipe with high-density polyethylene piping (HDPE), which is weather resistant and heat fused -- no mechanical joints to separate when the system is under pressure.
• Replaced 42,000 diffuser sprayheads with 19,000 new impact sprayheads, which reduced the potential for over-saturation.
• New sprayheads have shut-off valves so that individual sprayheads can be shut off for maintenance/repair while the rest of the field continues to operate.
• Redesigned pumping systems to allow sprayfields to operate at optimum pressure.
• Daily reconnaissance and analysis of all major streams leaving the LAS site monitor surface water quality and characterize the effectiveness of the treatment process.

Sludge Processing Facility

In order to keep wastewater treatment plants operating efficiently, solids are removed from the raw wastewater entering the plants. These solids are then sent to an aerobic digester where their volume is reduced before going on to the Dalton Utilities sludge processing facility. Until June 1998, these digested solids, or "sludge," were sent to special sprayfields on the LAS and were land applied. In June 1998, Dalton Utilities ceased all land application of sludge and within a one-week period had created a temporary facility to process the sludge. The permanent Sludge Processing Facility was completed in April 2000.

In the sludge processing facility, sludge is dewatered by a centrifuge, combined with a polymer to make it cohesive and portable, and is either composted on-site (see below) or taken off-site to a landfill.

SLUDGE PROCESSING FACILITY FACTS:

• $2,450,985 – total expended
• Construction began in September 1999 and completed in April 2000
• Features 2 centrifuges manufactured by Westfalia of Germany.
• Facility processes an average of 100,000 pounds of dewatered sludge per day/3 million pounds per month.
• Facility was built to accommodate future needs with a capacity for more than double the monthly amount (3 million pounds) currently being processed.
• Sludge sprayfields were rehabilitated - remnants of sludge were scraped from fields and hauled to a landfill; fields were then resown with millet and grass seed.

Advantages of sludge dewatering vs. land-applied sludge:

• Nutrient loading to soil is greatly decreased in an area of close proximity to the Conasauga River
• Rehabilitation of sludge sprayfields eliminates potential environmental problems from overland run-off to the river during heavy rainfalls and/or floods.
• The rehabilitated sludge sprayfields are now available for alternative uses.

Composting: Dalton Utilities Putting Your Waste to Beneficial Reuse

You’ve heard of taking lemons and making lemonade? Well, Dalton Utilities is doing something similar with the byproducts of wastewater treatment! Dalton Utilities is partnering with Harvest Farms to take the solids (or sludge) from our wastewater system and put it to work to improve the environment. Why? We think a cleaner river and invigorated soil are good reasons. That is recycling in its highest form! It’s incredible to think that the wastewater produced today by homes and businesses in our community is not only being treated in such a fashion that it does not HARM the environment, but it is also being processed further in a manner that actually IMPROVES the environment! That’s what we call a win-win situation.

While the Utility is proud to be putting this waste product to beneficial reuse, it is a double benefit that we are able to reduce our cost of the disposal of sludge, resulting in an annual cost savings of over $400,000.

How is this done? In the wastewater treatment process, solids (or sludge) are pulled from the wastewater in several of the treatment stages. This sludge is then sent to a special digester for treatment. At our sludge handling facility, the final treatment stage involves adding a polymer or “caking” agent to the dewatered sludge which is then sent through a high-speed centrifuge to remove any remaining moisture.

At this point, the sludge is mixed with organic material, like tree bark and wood chips. The mixture is then composted in large containers where it must be kept above 131 degrees Fahrenheit for three consecutive days and average 114 degrees Fahrenheit for a total of 14 days. No special heating is required as the composting process produces its own heat. During this heating process, any pathogens in the sludge/organic matter combination are eliminated. The compost is then placed in windrows (long rows of heaped compost in an open field) on our Land Application System facility to complete the decay process for an additional four to six months.

But is it safe? The initial treatment process and the final composting process consume the contaminants from the organic matter. In fact, the composting process is closely regulated by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to ensure the safety of the product. According to Gerry Harstine, president of Harvest Farms, “All soil is made up of things that have decayed, but the end product of composted sludge is safer and cleaner than any soil you might dig up in your front yard.”