Dual Purpose Project: A System for Handling Effluent Now and Wastewater Later
Authors:
- Anthony D. Greiner - Hazen and Sawyer
- Andre Mathis - Western Regional Sewer Authority
For years, the 7570-m3/d (2-mgd) Grove Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Piedmont, S.C., had been discharging its effluent to Grove Creek, but when its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit came up for renewal in 2005, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control announced that it was time for a change. Because of the creek’s low flows and the plant’s new effluent limits, regulators effectively mandated that the plant either change its operations — which would require new infrastructure — or start discharging its effluent to another, more appropriate receiving waterbody by July 1, 2008.
This order came at an awkward time. The Grove Creek plant is operated by the Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority, which was in the preliminary stages of designing a new facility, the Piedmont Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. This plant is expected to replace the existing Piedmont Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Grove Creek plant. It also is expected to manage flows from surrounding drainage basins, including the towns of Pelzer, West Pelzer, and Williamston. At press time, the new plant was scheduled to be operational in 2011…
