City Works At Water Pollution Control
|
Information reprinted with permission of the Courier Times, local newspaper New Castle, Indiana 4/23/2014 4:49:00 PM |
||||||
Staff writer When Greg York took office as New Castle mayor in January of 2012, the last thing he expected was for the city to get slapped with a $10,000 Indiana Department of Environmental Management fine for sewage treatment. Within weeks of taking his oath of office it happened. York said he knew "absolutely nothing" about wastewater, or its treatment, and had to learn the ropes about muck from the gritty ground up. He made a beeline for the wastewater treatment plant near County Road 100 South to see what IDEM was fussing about and was shocked at what he found: about three feet of solid waste clogged the lagoon at the plant, a buildup of several years, he estimated. He photographed the hot mess as a biohazard-suited city employee attempted to bulldoze the muck, so deep it reached mid-tire. York said he was treated to a crash course from experienced wastewater treatment plant staffers who, he said, were integral in helping the city maneuver into more effective and state-compliant wastewater management. Two wastewater treatment plant directors later, York now personally leads annual Earth Day tours of the wastewater treatment plant that he said he has grown to be passionate about for over the first two years of his mayoral term. The tours are free to the public. Pointing to clear water in a final aeration tank, York said, "This is what I am proudest of." Coming near the completion of his tours, it is the seventh of eight clarifying processes water passes through before it goes back into the Big Blue River. "This tank is 12 feet deep and you can still see the pipes at the bottom." Recent improvements made to treat wastewater include "pig fencing" installed at the mouth of combined sewer outlets to catch trash, such as the one on Garner Street near the new Wilbur Wright Trail. Jeff Ray of the Friends of the Big Blue River estimates the pig fencing alone resulted in a 60 percent drop in pollution flowing into the river. It catches foam cups, plastic shopping bags and other large pieces of trash. Water Pollution Control Department Superintendent Steve Swoveland said a new aeration system recently installed through StarBurst Technology of New Castle improves the plant's energy efficiency, as well. According to the city website, the Water Pollution Control Department, formerly known as the Wastewater Treatment Plant, is a 10 million gallon per day facility. |
