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OCWA treating local sewage lagoons
Boats help treat lagoons in Edgewater
By Ron Giofu
Amherstburg Echo
Thursday May 08, 2008
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One of three boats assigned to treat the Edgewater sewage lagoons does so during a recent visit.
(Photo: Ron Giofu/The Amherstburg Echo)
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AMHERSTBURG -- For those wondering why there have been tanker trucks and boats out on the sewage lagoons at Edgewater, it is for maintenance.
"It's seasonal," said Robert Budway of the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA). "It happens in the spring and in the fall. We only treat cells when they are required."
Budway, a senior operator/mechanic at the Amherstburg Water Treatment Plant, explained that sewage goes into the first cell where sunlight and bacteria naturally treat it before being transferred to the second, then subsequently the third cell. He said that only when it meets provincial requirements is it then discharged into the Detroit River.
The tanker truck contains the chemical used to treat the cells, an aluminum sulfate based product, and that is transferred into 150 gallon tanks aboard three boats. The most recent treatment, which occurred Monday morning, saw the boats go over the lagoons, release the chemical from a valve on the bottom of the tanks, and be spread by the propeller of the boat. The treatment is to prepare the cell contents for discharge into the Detroit River.
The water had been tested to see which would be the best chemical to use.
"The reason we treat cells with the chemicals is to reduce the suspended solids and total phosphorus levels to meet the discharge requirements," he said.
That particular treatment program has been around for decades. He noted that OCWA performs such services all around the province.
"It's been around for a long time," he said. "It's been proven to be the most economical for the client."
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