East Helena Wastewater Nitrogen Study
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Authors
Burgess, Matthew
Sassano, Colin
Powell, Stephen
Date of Issue
2023-04-28
Type
Presentation
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Abstract
The City of East Helena is experiencing rapid growth within the City limits. As the population continues to grow, the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) will see an increased load. All wastewater plants around the state are given a discharge permit that depends on a variety of factors including where the treated effluent is discharged. In East Helena’s case, they are discharging into a small stream called Prickly Pear Creek. Smaller streams require more treatment because there is less dilution capacity. While the City has not yet violated their permit, continued growth in the area and increased loads on the plant will require a better treatment process than is currently being utilized. Our goal is to design a solution to improve the treatment efficiency for removing Nitrogen in the East Helena WWTP to prevent Nitrogen levels in Prickly Pear Creek from exceeding the limit. In our presentation, we will describe why we chose to convert the current aeration basin to a Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) process, the current site conditions, gathered data, design criteria and constraints, environmental and societal impacts, cost estimate, and required permitting. The MLE process will create two separate zones, anoxic and aerobic, to facilitate the removal of nitrogen in the water.