Wastewater Reuse

Bear Brook Country Club - 1999

• Location: Fredon Twp., NJ
• System Type: Alternating Aerobic/Anaerobic Trickling Filter System
• Discharge Type: Irrigation for Beneficial Reuse
• Volume: 35,000 gpd
• Use: Residential

A residential village of 86 homes around an 18-hole golf course allowed Aqueonics to develop a 35,000 gpd capacity wastewater treatment facility that discharges year round to a decorative reservoir of 3.6 million gallons capacity. The water is used in the summer for watering the golf course. The wastewater is treated for ammonia and nitrate removal and disinfected by ultraviolet radiation and is fit for swimming pool use by the time it is discharged to the reservoir. The high quality effluent requirements protect golfers and the water supplies provided by Dead End Brook that disappears underground to replenish aquifers.  The facility is now owned by a major utility.

F&S Produce Company, Inc. - 1993

• Location: Rosehayn, NJ
• System Type:Alternating Aerobic/Anaerobic Trickling Filter System
• Discharge Type: Total Reuse System
• Volume: 72,000 gpd
• Use: Industrial

F&S Produce is a purveyor of soup and salad products and processed vegetables, fruits and pasta from its facilities in Rosenhayn, New Jersey.  Set in an agricultural environment, the facility was formerly owned by Sunnyside Vegetable Packing which discharged its agricultural waste products onto the land, but faced issues with odors from the extreme strength of the wastes, and unreliable ability to discharge in winter and under conditions of the environment restricted by permit limitations.  When enlarging their plant capability and product lines, wastewater became a primary focus of their ability to continue to produce reliably in all weather.  Moreover, treatment to meet groundwater reuse standards became a requirement for an increase in their discharge permit.

Aqueonics proposed a duality of land applications.  Surface application through spray irrigation was combined with subsurface discharge during periods when surface discharge was not permitted and to provide rest remediation and recovery of both systems.  Pretreatment to meet regulatory requirements for the enlarged discharge and to remediate prior groundwater pollutant levels was provided to reduce the high-strength wastes to recharge/remediation levels required.

Particular issues in treatment to be faced were extreme variations in influent strength and type caused by the batch nature of production, seasonal variation in the types of products produced, and the variability in strength and nutrient content of the wastes.

Sunnyside’s treatment was achieved by extensive headworks which comprised microseiving to remove large particulates, two stages of flow equalization, the first to handle extreme variations in production flow rates and evenly feed, through flow control, a dissolved air flotation (DAF) device for separation of oils and finely divided solids.  The DAF device is also utilized for sludge thickening.  A secondary flow equalization tank designed to mix and consume influent over an entire production cycle, and to thereby increase the effectiveness of the secondary/tertiary treatment process is also provided to average the process over a seven-day production cycle

The biological process, designed for nitrogen removal, employs two types of recycle to dilute waste strength where it might prove inhibitory to effective treatment, and to evenly distribute nitrate among the three anaerobic reactors.  Tests have demonstrated the capability of this system to effectively treat actual wastes at a flow rate of double the design rate of 50 gpm (72,000 gpd).  Influent to the system has been found to intermittently exceed 10,000 mg/l BOD and 3,500 mg/l SS, with removal of 99.9% achieved by the Aqueonics system.

This facility was placed in operation in 1993.

Willistown Woods - 1985

• Location: West Chester, PA
• System Type: Alternating Aerobic/Anaerobic Trickling Filter System
• Discharge Type: Surface Water Remediation
• Volume: 120,000 gpd
• Use: Residential

Willistown Woods is a residential condominium complex accommodating a population of 888 located near West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Discharge began in 1985 to a low quality stream with water quality designed to remediate stream quality.  Phased development plans call for eventual increases to 250,000 gpd.

The Aqueonics  system was initially designed and permits approved for a Phase II discharge of 64,000 gpd to replace an existing Extended Aeration facility of 22,000 gpd capacity.  Phase II improvement in stream quality enabled the stream  to support a fresh water fishery.  Through the additional flow and good management of the discharge, the stream classification was upgraded.

When the owner reapplied for the anticipated increase capacity based upon the initially proposed development phasing for Phase III discharge of 120,000 gpd, the stream reclassification had placed a non-degradation standard upon all discharges, including the one which remediated the stream, and the already stringent discharge limits were halved as a condition of increased flow in 1987.

Aqueonics retrofitted the design to achieve double the performance without need for extensive process modification, while adding sand filtration and additional nitrification surface without interruption of plant operation.

In the process of operation, it has been discovered that inconsistent variation in water supply source provided by the potable water purveyor seriously impacted nitrification capability through periodic lack of alkalinity which depended upon both the location of withdrawal and the pretreatment process provided at the source.  As the nitrification process is critically dependent upon presence of sufficient inorganic carbon, a correction of this deficiency to assure supply of alkalinity has vastly improved process reliability.  Attention to the nuances of such detail are available through Aqueonics customer services and essential to achievement of high-tech results from Aqueonics systems, which emulate and utilize natural environmental processes in stable, compact environments to achieve superior results.  Such occurrences also illustrate Aqueonics’ desire to service, assist and provide a reliable resource to plant operators so that such issues or potential issues can be addressed and accommodated in Aqueonics facilities.  Aqueonics prides itself in its designs which are  flexible in operation to this purpose .

The design-build concept of unit responsibility permits active use by the operator of the designer’s knowledge, and feedback to the designers of the operator’s experience to improve the quality and usefulness of the facility.

This facility was placed in service in 1985.

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