The Sni-A-Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant in the city of Blue Springs, Mo. |
To fund the project, the consultant completed a facility plan and helped the city receive over $36 million in State Revolving Fund low-interest loans, which included a $3-million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
In addition to expanding the plant's design average capacity from 6 to 10 MGD, the improvements included increasing design peak capacity from 18 to 36 MGD. Flows that exceed 36 MGD are stored and treated through the plant after the peak wet-weather event. The influent pump station now consists of five Flygt-brand, dry-pit submersible N-pumps.
The semi-open, self-cleaning impeller on an N-pump represents a patented innovation that makes them more energy efficient and reliable. The design keeps the leading edges of the impeller vanes unobstructed where fouling often sets the stage for clogging. These leading edges pass across a stationary relief groove that clears any snared fibrous solids, grease or sludge, creating a self-cleaning flow path through the pump. The station also includes dual-force mains and flow metering, which discharge to the new headworks building.
The new facilities now also include the following:
- A multiple rake climber coarse screen for protection
- New headworks with 1/4-inch fine screening and grit removal
- Two new aeration basins with fine-bubble, retrievable diffusers
- Provisions for future biological nutrient removal basins
- Two new 125-foot-diameter final clarifiers
- New tertiary disc filters
- Ultraviolet disinfection
- Effluent pumping and aeration
- Two sludge digestion/storage basins
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) had previously been used to control the headworks pumps, but their use at the plant had become problematic. Taking advantage of the plant improvement process, the consultant and plant operators decided to replace the PLCs with Flygt MultiSmart pump station controls. Simple to set up and use, these controls provide hundreds of features that not only maximize pump station efficiency but also save time and money by preventing clogging and nuisance call-outs. Multiple set-point profiles also allow remote switching on specific dates and times for a variety of specific operations such as spill management.
Control panel costs are reduced due to built-in functionality in the MultiSmart controls such as three-phase current monitoring. The remote control feature reduces maintenance and frequency of site visits, while the built-in local SCADA removes the added costs of HMI hardware and software.
The pairing of constructed wetlands with improvements and capacity increases to the fundamental infrastructure of the Sni-A-Bar WWTP have now fully prepared the cities of Blue Springs and Grain Valley to meet all environmental regulations as well as sustain future development around the Kansas City metropolitan area.
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