FILTRATION & SEPARATION
RETROFIT SCREEN PROVES TO BE A good option at wastewater plant
A Hydronic T Screen from Lakeside Equipment has been retrofitted at the City of Washington’s wastewater treatment plant in Indiana, helping keep the area’s waterways clean
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efore a series of upgrades (totaling $27M over 5 years), at the City of Washington’s wastewater treatment plant in Indiana,
even the smallest amount of rainfall would cause an overflow. $27M is a significant sum of money of
course, but as any municipal works superintendent will tell you, funding is a long and complicated process. Prior to the installation in 2012 of
a fixed bar screen, Superintendent Scott Rainey and his team at the Wastewater Treatment plant had to painstakingly pull out large debris from a fixed overflow weir, that was overwhelmed during storm events. With a collection system
A hydraulically operated telescoping boom and rake mechanism, the Lakeside Hydronic T utilises hydraulic cylinders to pivot the boom, and to extend and retract the boom and rake for depths up to 50ft
Waterworks in Indianapolis, who had helped supply the plant with equipment many times. “Serving a small community (12,000), we all
main structural members to the smaller items like hydraulic tubing, all of the pre-
comprising of combined sanitary and storm sewers with four Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), treatment has sometimes been as complicated as funding (!) – but again, learning to be patient, resilient and resourceful is very much part of responsible wastewater treatment plant life. “Our old screen just kept on blinding”, said
Rainey. “Back-ups were all too regular. We knew – and we wanted to take action – as of course did the State’s Department of Environmental Management, but our hands were tied until we had funding in place. In the meantime, we simply had to get on with it. With talk of a fine hanging over our heads, this wasn’t always easy.” Finally, when approval was given to go
ahead with a new screen, to the tune of up to $1M to $1.2M, Rainey set about researching the best possible solution, speaking to operators all over the USA. He also sought advice from a trusted contact, Ken Sobbe at FACO
fabricated parts came together very well’
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have several hats to wear,” said Rainey, “so getting away isn’t easy – but I attended trade shows – and trust me, I listened to all sorts of solutions that were put forward. I knew that while we certainly needed something robust and of good quality to cope with heavy debris, we didn’t necessarily need a full-blown mechanical screen, just for the sake of it. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.” A key factor in the decision-
making process was the possibility for retrofit. During the previous upgrades, the main storage tank was
designed so that is could be retrofitted if required – with only slight modifications. Rainey also consulted with the treatment plant’s engineer of record Midwestern Engineers,
who came up with the idea of integrating an automated rake system to clean and clear the bar screen during storm events. “Attending the WEFTEC show was well worth
the time in the end”, continued Rainey, “and when I showed my engineers the Hydronic T Screening System from Lakeside Equipment Corporation, they liked it immediately. Seeing a video of the Hydronic T pull a log out of a creek was very impressive – and when I spoke to other operators, they, like Ken Sobbe, confirmed what high quality and precisely engineered equipment it is. We all agreed that we could have gone bigger and therefore more expensive, but we knew we could make use of our existing structure - so long as the mechanical transition could be as simple as possible. To be honest, we didn’t realise that there was anything out there on the market quite like the Hydronic T Screen.”
As those saddled with funding issues or
ultimately benefiting from it know, the next obstacle to negotiate when all has been agreed upon, is timing. Twelve months may at first sound like a long time – but achieving everything from scratch – research and design, culminating in just three months to complete all the engineering was a considerable feat. Together with a very skilled contractor, the goal-oriented and product delivery-driven team is what enabled the project to stay on budget and finish ahead of the EPA mandate. The contractor in this case was Bowen
Engineering Corp., who was confident that this joint effort would deliver the right results – as well as stick to the original cost estimates for the project. Sam Hill, project manager at Bowen
Engineering, takes up the story: “We wanted to deliver a really high-quality product while always challenging ourselves as to how can we do something better for less money,” he said.
“The City of Washington is a long-time
customer of ours, so by knowing and understanding their needs, we feel that we are working with them as a team rather than as separate entities. “The Stormwater Combined Sewer Overflow
Tank is intended to be a storage tank during major rain events to prevent sewage from discharging into local waterways – but with a clogged screen, the sewer/storm water is diverted into the waterway, in effect making the tank totally ineffective. Retrofitting the existing system with Lakeside’s Hydronic T Rake brings the tank into play as it should – and in doing so, cleans up the area’s waterways. Most importantly, it helps to prevent the City from being fined large sums of money by government environmental agencies for diverting flow.” The screen’s hydraulically operated
MARCH 2021 | PROCESS & CONTROL 19
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