Elkins Dedicates Wastewater Plant

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A dedication ceremony and open house Friday, hosted by the city of Elkins at its wastewater treatment facility, allowed residents and visitors to see the $8.5 million upgrade. The project nearly doubled the capacity of the plant to accommodate population growth and will allow the facility to handle all the storm water run-off that previously was dumped directly into the Tygart Valley River.

"We are trying our best to look to the future to improve the infrastructure," Elkins Mayor Judy Guye said at Friday's open house. "The next step is eliminating the 15 CSO (combined sewer overflows) where there is an occasional overflow into the river."

According to Guye, the upgrades were a necessity because of regulations set forth by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency. The plant capacity increased from 2.5 million gallons to 4.99 million gallons a day.

Guye said financing for the project was obtained from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection state revolving fund.

Guye said her first day as mayor on April 1, 2003, she went into her office and found that a meeting was in progress. She said she asked Elkins City Clerk Phil Graziani which meeting was occurring and he informed her it was Sanitary Board. She said she entered the meeting and was told she was in charge.

"We have met the first Tuesday of every month since I took office," Guye said.

Guye thanked Graziani for all the work he has done with the project.

"We really want to thank him," Guye said. "He has kept all the minutes of Sanitary Board meetings and paid all the bills."

Guye introduced several people in the crowd who were instrumental in helping with the project including Bob Koontz with WVDEP Division of Water and Wastewater, current Elkins City Council members Rob Beckwith, 1st Ward, Hazel Burford, 2nd Ward, Tom Hensil, 2nd Ward, Bob Malcolm, 3rd Ward, Carman Metheny, 3rd Ward, Duke Talbott, 4th Ward, Karen Wilmoth, 4th Ward, Danny Satterfield, 5th Ward, as well as former Councilmen Harold Elbon and Tom Ditty.

Guye also introduced Sanitary Board members David Ice and Randall Biller. Hazlett Construction Co. provided the upgrades and Burgess & Niple served as engineers and consultants on the project.

According to a program provided by plant engineers Burgess & Niple, the wastewater treatment plant was built in the 1980s to serve Elkins residents as well as residents in the Midland and Leadsville public service districts. The plant had a capacity to treat 2.5 million gallons of water per day and met all the state and federal regulations.

"Nearly two decades later, new state and federal regulations, population growth and the age of the equipment caused the city and its Sanitary Board to plan for necessary improvements," the program states.

Major improvements at the wastewater treatment facility included new preliminary treatment facilities, an oxidation ditch, secondary clarifiers, protestation tank, ultraviolet disinfection, decant tanks and sludge dewatering, according to the program.

The preliminary treatment facilities take in the wastewater from the sewer system. The facility was undersized and did not remove solids from the water. The improvements included a new screening process to remove solids, a new grit pump, new septage receiving and storage system, and a new building to enclose the components.

Wastewater then travels to the oxidation ditch where the biological treatment of the wastewater occurs. The oxidation ditch capacity was increased by 50 percent without increasing the size of the concrete structure by utilizing a scheme involving diffusers and two new blowers.

The new secondary clarifiers provide treatment by removing solids from the treatment process. The project included improvements to two existing secondary clarifiers and a new secondary clarifier that is 90 feet in diameter.

The postaeration tank takes water discharged from the secondary clarifiers and adds air to the water to avoid impact to aquatic life in the Tygart Valley River. The improvements also increased the capacity of the tank.

Other upgrades included a process that exposes the wastewater to ultraviolet light which disinfects the water before it is released into the river. The old system was no longer useful and did not have adequate capacity to meet future needs.

Decant tanks take in the solids or sludge removed from the wastewater. The project included installing a new submersible mixer into an existing 30-foot diameter decant tank and constructing a new 40-foot diameter decant tank equipped with a submersible mixer.

The sludge dewatering system replaced two 1-meter belt filter presses with two 1.5-meter presses. This increases the plant's sludge handling capacity and allows sewer plant employees to complete the routine process within the workday, eliminating the need for overtime.

The upgrades also included the construction of a sludge storage building, an expansion of the existing laboratory to meet WVDEP requirements and pavement of plant access roads and expansion of the parking area.