The new Murray wastewater treatment plant is nearing completion with several updates already in the works.
Bee Creek Plant Supervisor Gene Pierceall said the plant is on target for an early 2019 finish date with 81% of upgrades complete.
He said the new pre-treatment facility, Vertical Loop Reactor and the UV Disinfection Unit has already been implemented.
The Vertical Loop Reactor is a phosphorus removal and storm water treatment process. Pierceall said the UV disinfection treatment replaced a chlorine disinfection treatment.
He said updates are necessary to bring the plant up to federal and state standards.
“The plant was 33-years-old and it wasn’t designed for nutrient removal," Pierceall said. "Now we have limits on phosphorus and right now we’re under a ‘report only’ for nitrogen, which means in the near future we’ll have nitrogen limits.”
City officials have said the updates will increased wastewater bills for users.
The Environmental Protection Agency identifies ‘nutrient pollution’ as one of America’s most costly and challenging environmental issues--caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the air and water.
Pierceall said the next phase will be the completion of the two largest clarifiers, which should be finsihed by August. Clarifiers are settling tanks that continously remove solids being deposited by sedimentation.
