In the 1970s and 1980s, federal grants paid a majority of the costs to build or expand wastewater treatment plants. Many Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) constructed then had a lifespan of 40 to 50 years and have now reached the end of their service lives. Such wastewater treatment facilities face numerous challenges, including design inadequ...
Energy represents a significant expense across all stages of the wastewater treatment process — from raw sewage collection to effluent discharge. Wastewater treatment plants throughout the U.S. consume more than 30 terawatt hours per year of electricity, amounting to $2 billion in annual electric costs. Estimates suggest that electricity costs cons...
Iowa wastewater facilities design standards were adopted in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) supplements these specifications with the 10 States Standards to help municipalities design or upgrade Publicly-Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) in the state. However, the detailed design standards for POTWs...
Contaminant type and quantity, coupled with local effluent regulations, constitute key factors that influence a municipality's approach to wastewater treatment. Large amounts of oxygen-demanding substances, nutrients and synthetic organic chemicals in effluents today pose challenges far more complex than what most Publicly Owned Treatment Works (PO...
The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 paved the way for the mass-scale construction of wastewater treatment plants across the United States. The significant improvement in the quality of effluent water at the time could be credited to these treatment plants, or Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs). However, most treatment plants at the time offered a...
Understanding and meeting municipal wastewater effluent standards will improve the quality and sustainability of your community, and it is not a challenge you have to meet on your own. Municipalities representing a wide range of sizes, densities and resources have met these standards. With the right partner to guide you through the process - a...
South Beloit and Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge Treatment (IFAS) To prepare for nitrogen and phosphorus removal requirements, the City of South Beloit, Illinois, turned to Fehr Graham to plan and design its Wastewater Treatment Plant to remove unwanted nutrients. The improvements, designed by Fehr Graham in 2018, are under construction. The...
Municipal leaders face difficult decisions every day. With limited budgets, they must choose which infrastructure improvements are most critical. That’s especially true in smaller communities. The Village of Tilton, Illinois, needed to make improvements to its wastewater infrastructure, specifically their Wastewater Treatment Plant, and financing t...
Too many nutrients in our water streams can mean large environmental, social and economic costs. Wastewater treatment plant effluent is a common point source that discharges these nutrients, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, into receiving streams and waterways. As many states move to regulate nutrients in discharge, there are many wastewater t...
Present in every stream and lake is something invisible, necessary and good. That something is nutrients – chemical compounds that are essential for sustaining aquatic life. However, too much of a good thing can be bad. When nutrient removal isn't considered, treated wastewater discharge into streams and lakes can cause elevated nutrient levels in ...
