Helping Facilities Succeed

Staff at the DEP South Central Regional Office, working with DEP’s Wastewater Operations Treatment Advisor, requested an instrument-based analysis of wastewater treatment to support ongoing Operator Outreach and Compliance Assistance efforts at this average 0.019 MGD sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process. Staff also conducted benchtop process monitoring and nutrient tests while on-site.

After Borough of Lykens hired permanent staffing of its water and wastewater treatment works, DEP regional staff requested that DEP’s wastewater technical assistance program evaluate this sequential batch reactor to advise and prioritize next steps in assuring the treatment plant is in good working order.

DEP’s Wastewater Operations Treatment Advisor requested instrument-based monitoring at this small conventional treatment facility while the authority president, working with the contract operator, and a graduate student converted the facility using intermittent aeration to a biological nutrient reduction (BNR) plant, achieving significant reductions in effluent nitrate to the Plum Creek watershed near Pocopson, PA.

DEP’s wastewater treatment optimization staff conducted an evaluation at this 0.25 MGD sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to optimize biological nutrient removal (BNR) and to advise strategies for dealing with industrial slug loads and inflow/infiltration in the raw wastewater and collection system. They also provided guidance on records development and process control strategies.

To assist operators in controlling effluent ammonium-nitrogen, DEP lent data controllers and computer interfaces while temporarily installing JAJSA’s new probes to monitor treatment conditions in two aeration tanks, giving operators almost a year’s effective monitoring while their professional installer built a more permanent probe network and data telemetry system.

DEP wastewater technical assistance staff provided continuous monitoring probes and supplemental laboratory testing services to the Amity Township Wastewater Treatment Facility to familiarize treatment staff with technology improvements pending in a major facility expansion and upgrade.

DEP staff conducted a wastewater treatment evaluation at the Curwensville Borough wastewater treatment facility at the invitation of the operators. The goal was to assist operators in optimizing biological nutrient removal (BNR) at this dual-basin ICEAS treatment facility and to provide additional staff training as requested.

DEP wastewater technical assistance staff provided continuous monitoring probes and supplemental laboratory testing services to the White Oak Country Estates STP while facility owners and operator worked through mechanical and programming issues with this groundwater-discharging, modified Ludzack-Ettinger treatment system.

This 0.245 MGD conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment facility, serving sanitary sewer collection systems in three municipalities and two potentially significant sources of industrial and non-domestic wastewater, experienced operational difficulties due to existing organic overload conditions. An evaluation of influent organic loading recommended the review and revision of existing sewer use ordinance to develop and implement comprehensive controls over wastewater discharge sources in the sewer service area to reduce the adverse impacts of highly variable organic loading to the activated sludge treatment system.

EPA and DEP staff deployed dissolved oxygen and oxidation/reduction probes to assist facility operators in evaluating their Orbal treatment unit for potential improvements, pending a facility upgrade, and recommended using probes to automate aeration capabilities.

This private community wastewater treatment system located in the Poconos near Stroudsburg achieved effective biological nitrogen reduction using timed aeration and anoxic mixing cycles in serial-flow aeration tanks to produce a higher quality effluent, leading to energy savings and reduction in chemical costs. DEP’s wastewater technical assistance program provided monitoring instrumentation and services to help operators optimize the process.

This well-run major treatment facility located in Pine Grove Township and rated for up to 1.5 MGD, requested assistance from US EPA’s Region 3 Office of Water Programs to improve its biological nutrient reduction (BNR) above and beyond its effluent discharge requirements, in an effort to optimize its position as a nutrient credit producer for the Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Trading Program. DEP staff provided oxidation / reduction potential (ORP) instrumentation used to monitor water quality at the facility’s sequencing batch reactors (SBR). Using the ORP probes, operators were able to graphically visualize data related to nitrification and denitrification, finding their process control “sweet spot” for maximizing nitrogen removal. The report recommended that ORP probes be installed to supplement existing dissolved oxygen probes, with upgrades to the SCADA system that would allow the operators more rapid control of their treatment processes.

The PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of State Parks, owns and operates three wastewater treatment plants associated with Ohiopyle State Park, a popular venue for white water rafting, angling, camping, and hiking, located in Fayette County. DEP technical assistance staff evaluated two of the package plants, at Kentuck Campground and at the Boaters’ Change House, proposing maintenance and improvements such as replacement of filter media at one and construction of an equalization tank at the other. In addition, due to the high concentrations of nitrate-nitrogen in the treated effluent, staff suggested the use of intermittent aeration in the presence of anoxic mixing to naturally remove dissolved nitrogen.

The contract operator of a modified Purestream Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) requested technical assistance and cold-weather process optimization in this small treatment facility that serves a manufactured housing community in Middle Smithfield Township, near Stroudsburg. The study recommended better control of dissolved oxygen to attenuate high concentrations going into denitrification phase of treatment that requires anoxic (no free oxygen) conditions to convert dissolved nitrate to nitrogen gas. Effluent nitrate reduction is required because this facility discharges to groundwater sources where nitrate concentrations must be held at or below ten (10) milligrams per liter to meet quality standards for potable well water. A dedicated organic carbon source time-controlled to feed the SBR at the start of its denitrification phase was also recommended.

Interrupted by the Covid Pandemic, this WTE of a Pure Stream Sequential Batch Reactor (SBR) with groundwater discharge recommended replacement of an antiquated preliminary treatment comminutor and automated dissolved oxygen control of the aeration blowers.

A wastewater treatment lagoon system in a suburb of Scranton, Pennsylvania, installed a nitrification filter in 2018 to enhance ammonia removal from its treated effluent. Facing stricter ammonia limits in its effluent during a periodic renewal of its effluent discharge permit, the facility owner and operators consented to an instrument-based review of the capabilities of this biological filter system to treat to a higher effluent standard. The subsequent study conducted by DEP’s wastewater treatment technical assistance staff evaluated filter performance during the mid-to-late winter of 2021 to confirm the filter’s treatment capability and suggested ways to improve filter performance during high-flow, low-temperature conditions, including process enhancements to manage alkalinity, reduction and attenuation of peak flows caused by inflow and infiltration in the collection system, and technology-based process monitoring improvements.