Bob Crisp/The Daily Home
Freddy Hazelwood, Pell City’s water quality department head who also oversees the Dye Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, said the $5.1 million expansion project is scheduled to be completed next month and in full operation by September.
“Right now, we’re doing test trials, inspections and performance tests,” Hazelwood said as he looked at the new solids handling facility. “This will be the answer to our solids problems.”
The new solids handling facility is equipped with two centrifuges, which are capable of extracting solids from 200 gallons of waste per minute.
Hazelwood said the centrifuges are more efficient and capable of drying solid waste much quicker.
The solid waste “cakes” are then transported to the Cedar Hill Landfill in Ragland.
Hazelwood said the centrifuges in the solids handling facility are the same as those used at the city of Calera wastewater treatment facility.
The multimillion dollar expansion of the wastewater treatment facility also includes a large decanting tank and a 1.5 million gallon clarifier or settling tank.
The expansion project at the Dye Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is being paid for through a $10 million bond issue the city secured in 2007.
The city is expected to secure another $18.5 million through the SRF, state’s revolving fund program, along with stimulus money, to help completely overhaul the aging sewer system.
Pell City must meet requirements outline in a 2006 consent agreement between the city and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management or face stiff fines.
The consent agreement was negotiated between city officials and state environmental officials after Pell City was cited for major sewer overflows.
The city has until 2012 to complete all work outlined in the 2006 consent order. The sewer expansion project was part of the consent decree.
Hazelwood said Tuesday the sewer line rehabilitation project in Eden has not yet begun.
He said the rehabilitation work one sewer lines could start next week, possibly Monday.
The sewer line rehabilitation project is costing the city $1.5 million, which includes video taping the inside of sewer lines to locate damage inside the lines. Workers can then repair or replace the damaged sewer lines.
Other work the city has completed to help eliminate sewer overflows include installing bigger sewer lines along Golf Course Road and Alabama 34, from the Civic Center sewer lift station to the actual waster water treatment facility along Golf Course Road.
The Civic Center sewer lift station is also completed.
There are current plans to build another pumping station along Wolf Creek Road North, and under the ADEM consent order, the city must also install a force main from the Fishing Creek pump station to the sewer treatment plant.
The city must also complete its Northern Interceptor project, which is basically a gravity line through the city’s industrial park.
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