Waymart Area Authority

Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

In 2000, the Waymart Area Authority accepted the challenge to provide sewage service to a new 1,200-bed Federal prison planned adjacent to its service area in Wayne County, PA. Advocating a regional approach to wastewater management, the Authority also proposed to accept the wastewater from an existing, nearby 1,100-bed State prison. This regional approach focuses the area’s wastewater management capability to one location, and eliminated the aging State prison wastewater treatment plant and discharge.

In order to accommodate wastewater from two prisons, the Authority needed to construct a new pump station, force main, & interceptor and upgrade its wastewater treatment plant from 210,000 to 715,000 gpd.

The Authority selected Entech to provide design and permitting services for the new treatment plant, and wastewater/effluent conveyance systems. Recognizing that the wastewater from prisons has unique characteristics and a higher strength than normal domestic sewage, Entech identified a comprehensive treatment process to manage the prison and municipal wastewater flows. The treatment plant upgrade was designed around sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process, and included the following operations/processes:

  • Influent pump station
  • Decant equalization
  • UV disinfection
  • Aerobic digestion to meet Class B Biosolids
  • Belt filter press for biosolids dewatering

The wastewater treatment process was designed to meet stringent water quality effluent limits, including nutrient removal, to protect this area’s high quality watershed. To further protect the quality of two recreational lakes and eliminate more stringent effluent requirements, Entech designed a pump station and 3 mile long force main to discharge treated effluent downstream from the lakes. The treatment plant upgrade also included site work, refurbishment of the existing laboratory/operations building, and the addition of additional office and meeting space. Entech assisted in obtaining the funding that allowed the entire project to be built without raising the rates of the existing customer base.

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