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Hyrum's new sewer plant to improve water, environment By
Ashley Stolworthy HYRUM -- Construction on the city's existing sewer plant is set to begin in spring or summer of 2003, according to Scott Rogers, principal engineer for Aqua Engineers of Bountiful. "The treatment plant has reached its physical limits imposed by the State of Utah and the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]," Mayor Gordon M. Olson said. "We are going to build a mirror image of the current facility to reduce the high phosphorous levels in the water." Because the city's plant is located on the upper end of a watershed on Spring Creek -- instead of more downstream like Logan's facility on the Bear River -- there is more need to reduce phosphorous levels, created mainly from laundry and liquid soaps, said Rogers. These phosphorous levels affect the water and the lives of many fish and wildlife residing in it. Recently, the EPA conducted a TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) study, which requires each state to restore every stream back to its original state. In order to do this, the city council brought in Aqua Engineers in January, 2002, to assist them in the project. "We have been working on the project since January, before the TMDL study came out," project engineer Justin Logan said Thursday night. "The city has been very pro-active with this project." Both Logan and Rogers have been working on this project since January. Facility plans show three new membranes, each of which contain "billions of molecular size pores that provide a physical barrier to bacteria, parasites and viruses" to provide more pure water and water reuse. According to Zenon's company website, www.zenonenv.com, their product is currently being used by over 100 municipal installations worldwide. The ZeeWeed membrane to be used in the new phase of Hyrum's wastewater treatment plant is made by Zenon. "One problem we ran into last winter was the cold," Olson said. "It was very difficult to operate because everything froze up; it's too old. This new technology is not nearly as susceptible to the weather because it's inside." The new membranes will be submerged directly into the sewage, letting the water go through a vacuum that will leave behind solids and bacteria, and end with clean water. This new system will cost less than if the town had to duplicate to entire system. Because of this, Rogers said, the state has worked with the city and reduced the loan interest from 3 to 1.3 percent. Also, new membranes may be added as the town grows. To ensure the most cost-effective solution, Hyrum council members Larry Gittins, Douglas Stipes and Bruce James will be visiting a plant similar to the city's proposed plans in Colorado next week.
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