Wastewater Primer

Fowlerville has a new wastewater treatment plant, and this last Saturday the village celebrated with an open house and tour for anyone interested. Being somewhat intrigued, I decided to head to the location of the plant behind the fairgrounds. It turned out to be well worth the hour I spent there learning about this state-of-the-art equipment.

But first a bit of history. Before 1963, Fowlerville residents had their own septic tanks and drain fields. Then, that year, the village built its first wastewater treatment plant. Now, 46 years later, it was definitely time to increase the capacity and, with improved technology, cleaning the wastewater had become an even higher priority before it would go back into the Red Cedar River.

So, a little over 2 years ago, the work began. This ~$5 million project is finished, operational, and will be able to service the community for many years to come. As a matter of fact, only about half of the capacity is used on a daily basis.

And, now for a condensed version of the hour-long tour we took. A primer, of sorts:This building is the first place the raw sewage comes to. Approximately 400,000 gallons of waste per day comes through the large pipe, which houses a filter to capture larger items that may have gotten through and not degraded, such as a large wad of toilet paper. (As a side note -- it was the only place the smell was a bit difficult to take.) Some of the sludge goes into this lagoon to keep the water actively alive as particles in the sludge settle to the bottom and decompose. These are the pumps used to move some of the sludge to the lagoon and also to move the wastewater to the next station for treatment. This picture shows one of two cement tanks used to aerate the wastewater before separating out the waste from the water. About every 6 months to a year the tanks see alternate use.Typically, the wastewater circulates and aerates by use of a propeller-type bar for 21 days. For example, although water is coming in and going out on a regular basis, one cup of water circulates that long before moving on. The wastewater then moves to the clarifying tanks where additional particulates are screened out of the water and sent back to the first building for more filtering. There are 2 clarifying tanks.The clarified water then moves onto the polishing lagoon (the one on the right). This lagoon holds approximately 18 million gallons of water over a 10-acre area.The water eventually moves onto another lagoon where it is tested for such quality as how much oxygen is in the water. If it does not meet the standards required by the Department of Environmental Quality, then the water is cascaded down these steps to help aerate it further.The final location for the now cleaned wastewater is a building with these pumps containing ultra-violet lights. The water passes over the bulbs, which further disinfects it from pathogens so when it goes back into the Red Cedar River it is bacteria-free. As the clean water leaves the ultra-violet treatment building, it cascades one more time down cement steps . . . . . . and then drains to the Red Cedar River.

From brown, stinky, slimey muck to clear water . . . this wastewater treatment plant is sending water back into the Red Cedar River cleaner than what it meets as the two flows combine.