THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE,WATER &WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
NEWSDESK
Moore at The Eshelman Company came in to weigh up the requirements and the logistics of a newpackage plant for Lockerbie.
“Ed is a good listener and very knowledgeable”, said TylerMcKeller. “He knows howtomeet needs and pull things together”,
With Krebs Engineering founded in 1926, The Eshelman Company in 1927 – and Lakeside in 1928, therewas no shortage of company experience to find the best possible solution for Lockerbie.
With LivingWater, Krebs and Eshelman all basedwithin around 10-15minutes of the Lockerbie plant, logisticswould bemuch simpler than formany upgrades (local controls business Revere Control Systemswere also lined up), but first, the close-knit teamhad to keep one plant online during the upgrade and work out howbest to get the newCSBR to site.
‘Safeguard the Environment’
“Considering the age of the plants”, said The Eshelman Company’s EdMoore, “LivingWater Serviceswere doing a tremendous job in meeting all permit requirements, especially in Alabama’s hot summers.We knewverywell that to safeguard the environment and bring about the upgrade at such a complicated location,we’d all have towork closely together. As Gary Huffman rightly said, expectation fromthe Homeowner’s Associationwas very high. Naturally, they had their concerns andwanted to ensure that investment in the newplantwould provide the right protection for such an important asset Birminghamand Alabama has in the Cahaba River. So, at an early stagewe started speaking to Lakeside to seewhat they could offer – and howthe newequipment could be installed”.
A compact design thatwouldwork for the treatment plant’s small footprint (by eliminating external clarifiers and return activated sludge pumping)was essential, so Lakeside, through their Regional Sales Manager, JimAitkenhead, proposed a Continuous-feed Sequencing Batch Reactor
FOLLOW US
(CSBR). Designed as a cost-effective solution for biological treatment processes, the fully automated CSBR treats rawwastewater flowin a single basin using timed based phases to fill, mix, aerate, settle and decantwaste sludge. Compared to a conventional Sequencing Batch Reactor, the CSBR systemallows raw wastewater to continuously flowinto the reactor basin during the treatment cycles - including during the settling and decanting phase. A bafflewall prevents short-circuiting as the flowtravels fromthe reactor’s pre-react zone. It also equally distributes the flowinto themain react zone,where aeration, settling and decanting occur. The process is designed to produce a clear effluent -without foamor floating scum.
TylerMcKeller of LivingWater Services, continued: “Aswell as the strong recommendations fromEdMoore and Krebs, I knewof Lakeside’s solid reputation fromother treatment plants, but to be honest, Iwasn’t sure howthe systemcould handle the phosphorous biologically – especiallywithout us having to continue to use lots of chemicals. On top of themanhours to go to site, the cost fromApril through to October had risen to around $1500 permonth”.
“First, the older of the plantswas shut down”, said Gary Huffman of Krebs. “Workingwith Livingston-based Goldman Contracting,we extended the existing slab so thatwe could repurpose an existing tank to store sludge.We didn’t have any other choice”.
Bringing in a crane truckwould have been easy – but for an 8-line highway less than 100 yards to the east of the treatment plant. That left a small,winding gravel road, as EdMoore fromThe Eshelman Company explains:
“Probably the bestway to describe the location of the plant is that it is 50-feet down a hole!”, he said. “Setting down an air conditioner is one thing, but a 20,000lb steel fabrication? For the first time inmy career I evenwent and enquired about a helicopter to be used because that seemed like the bestway of doing it – but no surprise really that the quote I receivedwould have taken us somewhat over budget! Again,we all put our heads together – and Thad Goldman (Goldman Contracting) and Lakesideworked together very innovatively to have the CSBR designed andmanufactured in two parts”.
He continued: “Easy to say now(!) but itwas fascinating towatch the delivery of the CSBR. An 18-wheeler reversing down this small winding gravel road, performing a 180-degree switchback – swinging the equipment out
October 2020 | drain TRADER 31
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