CASE STUDIES
New Screen and Grit System solves trickybalancing act for Baldwin
One would think that with a population of just 1,200 people, wastewater treatment in Baldwin, Michigan, would be pretty straightforward…
But for this village, it’s been a yo-yo of a journey for the past two decades, with treatment required for 75,000 gallons of sewage per day, right up to 200,000 gallons per day – and back down again – and at various levels in between. For any treatment plant operator, this has presented quite a challenge – and even now, it looks like flow could go back all the way down again to 75,000 gallons.
Rural Baldwin attracts plenty of visitors for its world-class trout fishing and canoeing (with the Pere Marquette River protected by The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act) - but the big differentials in population have been because of the North Lake Correctional Facility, which at capacity, has had 1600 inmates and up to 400 staff. Under the new Biden administration, it is expected to close – again – but time will tell.
In the late 1990’s the village of Baldwin brought in Grand Rapids-based Fishbeck (long- established engineers, architects, scientists and constructors) to design the original 75,000 gallons per day Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) plant, but as Jim Truxton, President of the Village of Baldwin, explains, construction was well underway when everything had to change with the building of North Lake Correctional Facility.
“At the time”, he said, “it was a unique opportunity for the state of Michigan to house the facility, and we couldn’t be blind to the fact that there would be significant Federal Government grants towards upscaling our wastewater treatment plant as a solid investment for the future of Baldwin”.
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‘Took in waste from septage trucks’
He added: “Over the years, I doubt anyone could have foreseen the on/off, open/closed saga, but then, opinions and policies can change when new administrations are elected. During a long period of closure for North Lake – for around seven and half years - our treatment plant was running at only 30% capacity, so to generate some much- needed income, we took in waste from septage trucks. In this part of Michigan, there are a very large number of septage tanks, so we knew there was a strong demand”.
Waste from these septage vehicles went into a primary pump station – and was pumped via a nearly three-mile-long force main, which travels underneath both an abandoned railroad and wetlands area, prior to discharging at the wastewater treatment plant.
In early 2018, Fishbeck completed the design and bidding for an $8M expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant (including the upgrading of the primary pump station) – proceeding with building as construction managers.
“Prior to this”, continued Jim Truxton, “there just wasn’t enough flow to move the grit, so it accumulated in the force main”.
For the new headworks, Fishbeck and the Village of Baldwin chose a Raptor Micro Strainer Screen (with a ¼-inch diameter perforated plate screenings basket) and a SpiraGrit Vortex Grit System – both made by Lakeside Equipment Corporation of Bartlett, Illinois.
| October 2021 |
www.draintraderltd.com
Dave Conklin, Senior Engineer at Fishbeck, said: “We help Baldwin with water supply, wastewater treatment, including regulatory requirements, planning and grant applications. We have previously specified Lakeside’s headworks equipment, based on its competitive pricing and performance. We have also had excellent experience with the manufacturer’s representative, Dubois Cooper of Plymouth, who are very knowledgeable and
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