Wastewater Treatment - Effluent Treatment

Saving Labor Hours with Smart Investments

August 2017

Wastewater Treatment - Effluent Treatment

Saving Labor Hours with Smart Investments

August 2017

A southern Texas municipality installed four step screens in 2002 at their headworks screening facility to remove inert solids upstream of the 40 MGD wastewater treatment processes.

Maintaining the downstream processes is particularly critical at this facility due to its commitment to provide plant effluent for reuse to waterfowl habitat, industrial infrastructure and recreational purposes. Located in an arid region, post-treatment reuse clients rely heavily on the municipality's high-quality effluent.

The utility's efforts to provide the community with a source of clean water were recognized by the regional EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) office through distinguished awards. Taking pride in their efforts and understanding the need to maintain a highly efficient treatment process, the utility established a routine maintenance program and dedicated resources to adhere to their newly found program.

Included in the program was a daily rotation of pump maintenance, requiring tear down and cleaning of the pumps. Also included was daily rotation to maintain the step screens; daily rotation to clean sensitive process monitoring instruments; quarterly rotation to isolate, shut down, drain, and clean clarifiers; and yearly rotation to shut down, isolate, and rebuild a single step screen - allowing for each screen to be rebuilt once every four years.

Parkson Corporation was awarded the contract and installed two Aqua Guard MN UltraClean units at the plant in 2013, followed by two additional AG-MN-UC units in 2015. Since then, all four UltraClean units have significantly increased solids capture rates, while showing a reduction in machine maintenance for optimal performance.

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