(photo by Bob Walter)

      February 7, 2007 - by Bob Walter: ENN apologizes for the delay in getting this photo tour to our readers. The filtration plant tour was the very end of November, but a computer glitch here and there stalled the story. Our tour guide was Steve McKasson who did an excellent job describing the complex treatment plant and answering our questions. Mayor Tom Smallwood said about thirty people attended the water plant open house throughout the morning and early afternoon. According to Smallwood the plant cost around $3.1 to 3.2 million dollars.
     Here McKasson stands at the point where water from wells One, Two, Six and Seven, and from the Mashell River, enters the filtration plant. Currently the water being processed is coming from the wells. Said McKasson, “This is a mixer that’s mixing all the time…At this point we’re adding soda ash to raise the pH, and a coagulant to basically grab the dirt.” 
    He also pointed out the sample pumps where water at this stage in the system can be extracted and sampled, then he explained the machinery that measures the CT - for contact time or chlorine time - that water must receive. The contact time for the water being treated was eighty-four minutes. The system of pumps, valves and pipes can, at peak flow, pump five-hundred-fifty gallons per minute (gpm). Each filter can process 390 gpm.

Old Clear Wells, New Configuration

      Of the four original clear wells, the two in the foreground store 250,000 gallons of treated, filtered water, ready to be pumped to out for use by the town. The far clear well, closest to the river and well intakes, contains the raw water before it goes through the “CT basin,” where it is treated with chlorine. Between the tank of raw water and the two clear wells in the foreground holding treated water, is an open space, required by the Department of Health, so that any leaks by one well or the other can be caught and repaired before any contamination occurs. Next to them, a system of baffles in the CT basin slows the water down long enough for the chlorine to disinfect it.  

Water is Transported, Filtered, Stored

    Behind these huge, labeled pipes – raw water, filtrate and backwash – sits one of the two filter skids, and in between them is the slab for a future third skid, when it’s needed. The pumps out on the clear wells pump soda ash solution and coagulant out to the raw water basin, after which it goes into the building and is sent through one of the big filters on the skids. As it leaves the filters, it gets the chlorine, then goes back into the CT basin for a measured amount of chlorine time, before being sent to one of the two storage tank clear wells, where it is ready for distribution to the town.

High Production Filters - 275 GPM

     These filters contain 96 tubes, within which are 10,000 strings, that collect the dirt from the water. They roll out for inspection and replacement. They are also automatically backwashed every thirty minutes, to keep the filters clean and working efficiently. The rate the filters are running determines how much chemicals are produced, so they are being added at the correct rate. McKasson told us how, during the start-up period of operation, “You couldn’t get through the night without an alarm going off. We would call the engineers and they would walk us through it.” The filter plant was designed by RH2 Engineering.  

Measuring the Rate the Water is Filtered

     A gauge on one of the two, big filter skids indicates to the hundredth of a gallon, the flow of water being filtered.

Unique, Door-Mounted Monitor

      A computer monitor at a desk, and this one built into the door of the plant’s computer nerve center, both show simple, layered diagrams of the entire plant. Tanks look like tanks, pumps look like pumps. Water level levels are shown. Pumps operating show in green, then turn yellow again when they shut off. Click on one pane, and more information about that portion of the plant displays.

Computerized Monitoring Improves Efficiency

     Tour guide Steve McKasson shows how the entire water collection, filtration, storage and distribution operation can be watched and scrutinized from a computer. The three clear wells, booster pumps and reservoir can easily be seen on this screen. McKasson has worked for the town about a year. His title is Water/Wastewater Operator. He is certified for this position, and is ready to take the tests to be certified for Water Treatment Plan 1 and Water Distribution Manager 1.

Trap Door Reveals Backwash Well

     No usable water is wasted; used backwash water goes into this 40-foot-deep well right inside the plant. As we were peering down, a backwash began to send water surging into it.

Beakers, Pipettes Ready to Use

     Gleaming pipettes and beakers hang on their rack on the wall of the testing lab. The workers conduct water quality tests and record the results every day, which takes about two hours.  

The Need for Filtration is Obvious

     This water sample shows the quality of the water after treatment, as it was before the filtration plant came online.

The Improvement is Dramatic

     A stark difference can be seen in the color of the two samples of water, the one on the left filtered by the old method, the one on the right filtered by the new.

Even the Generator Has a Face and Arms

      Inside this gleaming, beige metal box out back sits a giant diesel generator. This is what kept our faucets running and toilets flushing during the power outage caused by the big November windstorm. It needed plenty of help from the crew. McKasson and Gary Sokol, with supervisor Mike Tiller also helping, drove around with a truck-mounted generator to "manually" pump the four sewer lift stations in town, moving the wastewater on to the treatment plant. On the longest continuous shift, finishing at one station and going on the next, they did this for seventeen hours. A generator of this size could, theoretically, run the middle school during a power outage.   

Computer Hardware, Wiring,
 Contained in Cabinet

     The wiring and computer hardware installation required meticulous work. This cabinet contained the plant's computer nerve center.

Pure Salt Used to Help Purify

    A barrel of simple rock salt, used in the purification process. Pounds and pounds of bagged rock salt are stored in the "chemical room" for use in the purification process.

Job Hazards Cannot be Taken Lightly

     A blue jug of phosphoric acid resides on a scale, so its production can constantly be measured. Numerous signs around the plant identify and explain its components, instruct as to safeguards, and warn of its hazards. Mandatory protective gear is at the ready.  

Filter, Backwash and Filter Again

     McKasson explains the smaller filter which handles the backwash water. After being filtered here, the water is sent back out to the raw water basin, where it gets re-filtered yet again. McKasson said, "The reason I was able to learn a lot about the filter plant process is that Mike Tiller and I got to be there and work with the people from U.S. Filter when they were installing everything. We got to learn the nuts and bolts of it."

Booster Pumps Stand Ready to Deliver

     Two of the three giant booster pumps, standing like sentinels, greet you as you walk past  the two “skids.” The booster pumps are ready to send water into the distribution system, after it has been automatically chlorinated, filtered through 10,000 strings that collect the dirt, even coagulated to separate out all minute particulates, and treated for organic content.

Machines Seem to Take on Personality

     Robotic-looking booster pumps that are feeding the town water each control 750 gallons per minute. They also drive water in the other direction, back into the filters for backwashing.

Soda Ash is Mixed Here to Raise pH

     Here in the Chemical Room, Water Supervisor Mike Tiller shows the solution of water and soda ash after it’s mixed in one of two huge vats. They measure the necessary amount of soda ash to add to the mixture by the height of the water. With every four and one-quarter inches more water, another bag is added.  Thus, the measuring sticks attached to the sides of the vats. They are being constantly stirred by mechanical mixers, one visible poking into the tank at rear. A salt mixture, made right in the room, is sent to be mixed in the chlorine tank, they again add some fresh water, then send an electrical charge to the water which causes a chemical reaction, which makes sodium hydrochloride. This process eliminates the need for caustic soda which was used in the old process. Caustic soda is so dangerous if spilled it can eat through concrete.

One of the Water Quality 
Monitoring Stations

     The concentration and rate of chemicals added to the water is monitored at these panels, which also feed the information to the computer.

In Case of Contact, Flush with...Clean Water

     An instant shower and eyewash station stands beside the phosphoric acid work station. The filters get an automatic acid wash with the phosphoric acid (That's the chemical sitting in the blue jug on the scale, which measures the amount used by weight.) every 24 hours. The water used in the acid wash is not distributed, but instead becomes wastewater.