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October 29, 2010

Hanceville treatment plant contends with sewage run-off

By Sam Rolley The Cullman Times

CULLMAN — The Hanceville waste water treatment plant had to contend with sewage run-off in Mud Creek, one of the city’s main drainage channels on Thursday.

According to officials, the run-off, occurred because of heavy rainfall brought by storms in the area earlier this week.

“The problems we’re having with the plant are really pretty simple, we just don’t have the capacity to manage the amount of waste we’re dealing with,” said Water Department manager Chris Freeman. “Look at it this way, a five gallon bucket only holds five gallons— so imagine our facility as a five gallon bucket that we’re trying to shove 50 gallons into.”

Freeman said that he hopes that during the next few months the problem will be resolved.

“We recently awarded a bid to a company to begin construction on a new treatment plant,” Freeman said. “So hopefully all of the little things will be worked out and we will begin construction between November and January”

According to officials, until the new plant is in operation similar problems will continue to occur because the current facility is simply too small.

“We’re going to work on some preventative measures while we wait for the new plant to open,” said Freeman. “We have to work with what we have at this point.”

Workers were pumping sludge from the creek by deadline of this article, and Freeman said his hope was to have the sludge cleaned up by the day’s end.

A similar case regarding sewage run-off in Mud Creek was reported in early September. That spill occurred as workers attempted to clean deposit sludge from a makeshift holding pond at the facility. The pond, which was built three years ago to hold sludge, overran its banks when officials attempted to aerate it to improve the quality of its contents.

The pond that overflowed in September is a product of the facility’s strain in dealing with the capacity of waste that it processes.  According to Freeman, the way a water treatment plant is designed, the pond should not have even needed to be created. That spill, which occurred during a period of very dry weather took three days to clean up.

“This is a rare problem and we’re all over it when it happens,” said Freeman. “We want to make sure to get these messes cleaned up as fast as possible when they happen, and to prevent them altogether when we can.”

The City of Hanceville has been working closely with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to show that they are working hard to remedy problems until the new plant is in operation. ADEM regulations require that a treatment plant operate at a daily average of 90 percent of its maximum rated capacity. The Hanceville plant, which has been operating for about 30-years, is designed to treat 570,000 gallons per day— it is not uncommon for the plant to operate at more than double ADEM’s prescribe 90 percent capacity.

“The new treatment plant will eliminate these run-off problems that we have been having,” said Freeman. “It’s going to give us the resources to handle the amount of waste that we process.”



 ‰ Sam Rolley can be reached by e-mail at srolley@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 225.

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