Jackson wastewater treatment plant needs work, official says

Jackson�s wastewater treatment plant is in good working order, but its aging equipment needs replacing � the sooner, the better, said city public works director Kent Peetz on a recent tour of the facility.

The plant was built 30 years ago, Peetz said, when Jackson�s population was considerably smaller than today�s 15,000.

About 1.8 million gallons of wastewater enters the system each day, Peetz said.

The plant had a round of upgrades in 1998, but that�s still been 20 years ago, he said, and it�s beginning to show.

Projections provided by the city show several projects totaling $16.8 million, adjusted for inflation, need to be undertaken between 2021 and 2024.

A water treatment pool is seen Wednesday at the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

In the meantime, engineering work needs to be done to determine the scope of repairs needed to structural and mechanical systems at the wastewater treatment plant, and to find where stormwater is infiltrating the system, Peetz said.

Earlier this month, the Jackson Board of Aldermen approved $1.2 million in engineering services, to be done by Horner & Shifrin of St. Louis, to begin the process.

Any machinery begins to need serious maintenance after 30 years, Peetz said, noting most people don�t still drive the car they had 30 years ago, and similarly, this treatment plant needs work.

But the wastewater treatment plant doesn�t just have machinery, Peetz said. Equally vital to the facility�s work are �bugs,� bacteria that eat and digest the bio-solids filtered out of the water that flows into the plant.

�We�re bug farmers,� Peetz said.

A treatment pool is seen Wednesday at the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

The screening process

Wastewater from the city flows in and is screened for waste larger than 1/4 inch, which is dumped into a receptacle and emptied at least once weekly, Peetz said.

Upgrades to that building are set to cost about $86,000, Peetz said.

The filtration system that handles smaller waste particles gets the mix to about 3 percent solids, 97 percent water, Peetz said, and from there, it flows into an oxidation ditch, where the �bugs� begin the biodegradation process.

�This is all natural,� Peetz said. �This is Mother Nature at work. We just give her some oxygen � and make sure the pH and temperature and all the rest are right.�

A pump is seen Wednesday at the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

The oxygen levels in the ditches should be about 2 parts per million at least, Peetz said, but in the first ditch, levels bottom out at about 0.2 ppm.

That�s too low to operate at maximum efficiency. When the flow goes up, the oxygen levels go down, and �the bugs aren�t as happy,� Peetz said.

One project calls for $1.3 million to do a basic ditch upgrade, Peetz said.

�Right now, we can�t get enough oxygen into that first ditch to keep it happy,� Peetz said.

The second or south ditch can keep up better because the first ditch bears the brunt of the inflow, Peetz said.

Kent Peetz speaks to a group of Jackson aldermen Wednesday during a tour of the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

And the $1.3 million project will give the ditches the ability to �treat more strength of waste,� Peetz said.

As for the bio-solids that are filtered out, another $1.7 million project will re-do how the plant treats that, Peetz said.

Every day, the plant treats about 10,000 to 20,000 gallons of sludge, Peetz said.

�We want to get it to about 3 percent solids, 97 percent water,� Peetz said.

That�s less water that has to be hauled out with the waste, he said.

Kent Peetz holds a flyer to be mailed with utility bills, Wednesday during a tour of the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

To do that, the solids are processed further in a digester. Bacteria work on the solids, and machinery runs air through the mixture to keep the process flowing, Peetz said.

Cleaner water is gradually drained off, until what�s left �won�t even attract flies,� Peetz said.

But every time air is pushed through, the machinery must be shut down, then turned back on. And the turbo blowers, Peetz said, �really don�t like to be shut off.�

Capacity added in 1998 is �about gone,� Peetz said. �We knew we�d get there someday.�

The proposed $1.7 million project will change how that process works and make it more efficient, Peetz said.

Ditches are seen Wednesday at the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

As for the cleaner water that gets drained out of the digester, that gets pumped through clear pipes that glow under ultraviolet light. That irradiates the bacteria, so by the time that water flows out into Goose Creek, �it�s often cleaner than the water that�s already in there,� Peetz said.

The bio-solids, on the other hand, are trucked out of the city. Peetz said the city contracts with farmers who use the solids on their fields as fertilizer.

Of course, there are regulations involved as to how close to bodies of water, homes, roadways, and so on, the bio-solids may be, but Peetz said the agreement between farmers and city works well.

Stormwater infilatration

As to the water that comes in to the plant, Peetz said, it�s not all wastewater from homes � at least some of the water is infiltration from stormwater.

An outbuilding and a water pollution control truck are seen Wednesday at the wastewater treatment facility in Jackson.MARYBETH NIEDERKORN

It can enter drainage pipes that have cracks, Peetz said.

That�s a big problem for the wastewater plant, he said, because it�s not designed to handle that excess inflow.

One day recently, he said, �we were running three times as much as we normally do, and it only rained an inch.�

That�s why the city is paying to have a study done, to see where the water is coming in, and to take measures to stop it.

Biodegradable doesn�t mean flushable

Flushable wipes are another issue, Peetz said.

Not only can the wipes clog pipes, he said, but they can easily overwhelm the small motors in lift stations.

While those wipes are technically able to be flushed, Peetz said, they don�t degrade in the short amount of time it takes for the wipes to leave a house and arrive at the treatment plant.

And, if people pour fats, oils, or grease down the drain, those can also cause headaches: mechanisms that tell pumps when to turn on can get bogged down with fats and grease, and that needs to be removed.

And it isn�t as though the treatment plant has a lot of workers. Peetz said four regular workers, one lab technician, and the foreman keep the facility running despite the aging equipment.

Pumps that lift water into the oxidation ditches should have smooth edges. They�re jagged.

A generator, kept as an emergency backup, was bought as Army surplus years ago.

But one piece of equipment, a transfer switch, has not been replaced in 30 years. Today, �you can�t buy parts,� Peetz said. So for the last two years, one employee has made several phone calls to find parts to keep it patched together.

Funding for the projects

The projects are a big undertaking, Peetz said, and funding will be through multiple sources.

Peetz said his department is looking to secure loans from the Department of Natural Resources. A bond issue will go before voters in April 2020, he said.

It won�t be a tax, he said, but will include what he called a �modest increase in sewer rates.�

Peetz said the advantage of planning out work ahead of time means rate increases can be considerably lower than in other municipalities that have needed to raise funds quickly to respond to problems found by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630