Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
An open house is planned at Warsaw's new wastewater treatment plant, CR 150W (McElroy Hill Road), behind G&G Excavating, Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Open to the public, the 20-acre facility is the city's second treatment plant. The facility features state-of-the-art technology.
Assistant operator Brian Davidson said the plant is taking in 1.2 million to 1.3 million gallons of wastewater per day. The facility has a capacity of 3.9 million gallons. The old plant in Boggs Industrial Park still collects about a million gallons per day.
Construction at the plant began in 2002, costing about $17 million. There is plenty of space for future growth. Flow to the plant began in November 2003.
Tours will feature the screening building, the enormous oval biosolid separation "carousels," the final settling tanks and the post aeration chamber, which leads to a channel and into the Tippecanoe River.
"This plant has all new equipment. It's a nice facility to work at," Davidson said. "The old plant offers challenges and that makes it exciting too. Both are operating very well."
Tours are scheduled for about an hour, depending on the number of questions, Davidson said.
"People will see the whole workings from beginning to the end."
The wastewater treatment utility department has 25 employees with six people at the new plant working five days a week for eight hours a day. Maintenance workers go between both facilities.
Computers at the old plant monitor the new facility during off hours.
"If there's a problem, I usually respond to alarms," Davidson said. "If there's a power outage, some equipment won't reset itself. If a pump goes down, we have a backup system that needs to be started."
Davidson said he hopes Warsaw residents come out to view the plant.
