For Immediate Release
March 15, 2005
Ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate new building at CPW's Daniel Island Wastewater Treatment Plant
(March 15, 2005)—On Wednesday, March 16, 2004 at 1:00 p.m., Commissioners will celebrate the completion of a new facility at the Daniel Island Wastewater Treatment Plant that prepares the 500,000 gallon-per-day plant for future expansion to accommodate growth on Daniel Island.
The new, $2 million state-of-the-art Solids Handling Facility is one of only a handful of its kind in the country and features rotary press technology to remove water from treatment by-products. “Solids” refers to a by-product of wastewater treatment—a watery sludge containing microorganisms that digest pollutants in the wastewater. Transporting and disposing of this sludge to landfills is costly. Landfill fees are based on weight, so removing as much water as possible reduces the number of truckloads as well as landfill disposal costs.
The Daniel Island plant, originally constructed in 1996, initially treated small volumes of wastewater from mostly undeveloped Daniel Island. Because of the limited flow, solids handling equipment was not installed at the Daniel Island plant. The sludge was pumped into tanker trucks and taken to the larger Plum Island treatment plant for dewatering and disposal.
But as growth on Daniel Island steadily increased plant flows, the volume of solids required on-site dewatering. “The flows at Daniel Island are only going to increase, and that affects our ability to treat wastewater,” said Russell Huggins, P.E., CPW's Engineering Manager. Huggins explains that removing solids is critical to maintaining the delicate balance of microorganisms necessary to achieve optimum treatment as required by a discharge permit—one of the most stringent in the state.
To handle the increasing volume of solids, CPW broke ground on the new solids handling building in April 2004. The new facility, completed in January 2005 , features a Fournier Rotary Press dewatering machine, which “squeezes” out excess water, producing drier, lighter sludge that empties into a trailer via a conveyor system.
The rotary press is state-of-the-art technology, with just over a dozen installations nationwide. “We're right on the cutting edge of technology,” Huggins said, noting the rotary press uses little power, is low-maintenance, quiet, and can be operated unmanned. “Our goal was to create a best-in-class solids handling facility, and I think we did that.”
The building includes room for two more rotary presses as the plant expands to meet 25-year growth projections for the Daniel Island/Cainhoy area. Currently, engineers are installing two rotary presses at CPW's main treatment plant on Plum Island to replace old, labor-intensive belt presses. The Plum Island presses are scheduled for completion in April 2005 and together, the presses will save more than $250,000/year on transport and landfill fees.
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Commissioners David Rivers, Louis Waring, and Howard Burky pose before the new rotary press during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Daniel Island solids handling building. |
