Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board members approved expenses for emergency repairs already done to a ruptured sludge line at the wastewater treatment plant and future repairs at the wastewater plant when meeting last Monday.
A RAS (return activated sludge) line ruptured during freezing weather Dec. 27, causing immediate repairs to be made, noted Gary McVey, water authority director.
“It happened at the most inopportune time, when it was about 5 degrees outside,” he said. “It was the line that returns sludge to the plant constantly. I contacted (water board) Chairman (Mike) Gibbs and told him it was another emergency we were going to need to address immediately. We put together what we thought the plan would be.”
McVey said the repairs involved using bypass hoses to keep the plant operating. Those hoses had to be rented, he noted.
“That was the largest part of the repairs. We also had to rent a trench box because this (line) ended up being 8 feet deep,” he said.
McVey said the plant was shut down immediately, and restarted once the bypass hoses, which temporarily served the same purpose as the damaged line, were put in operation.
“Because people were there, we caught it very quickly and cut everything off,” he said.
McVey said the damage was not caused directly by the freezing weather, but rather wear and tear.
Board members Tony Whitaker, Billy Rowe, Don Callihan, Hubert Parker and Gibbs post-approved an expense of $21,939 for the RAS line repairs.
Another issue at the wastewater plant will soon require repairs — worn-out bearings and seals in the plant’s filter system.
“There are particulates that the filter usually catches, and a small amount is getting through,” McVey said.
The plant has been using an increasing amount of sodium hypochlorite, a chemical disinfectant added before treated water is discharged into the river, to keep the residuals in compliance, he told board members.
“It’s causing our chemical cost to go up because of disinfection, and we want to make sure we keep (those) costs to a minimum,” McVey said. “I feel like we’re going to spend the money in chemicals if we don’t do (these repairs).”
Board members approved an expense not to exceed $20,000 to repair the filter seals and bearings.
McVey said the wastewater plant is still in compliance with EPD in what it discharges into the river, and the water authority was not required to contact EPD about either the ruptured RAS line or the filter issues.
“The material that’s being dealt with there is so corrosive, and the plant is at the age now where we’re having to work on a lot of this equipment and replace it,” he added.
In other news ..
﹣ The EPD has received and posted an application from the water authority to increase the withdrawal amount allowed by its permit on the Ellijay River.
The application asks the EPD for the withdrawal limit to be increased from .45 million gallons per day to 1.5 million gallons per day.
McVey said the EPD will post the application for 30 days for public comment, after which it will be approved or denied. “I’m expecting that (application) to be approved,” he added.
﹣ Shortages and long waits for materials that were seen in 2022 are continuing in the new year, McVey noted in a rundown of current projects. “We’re still having trouble getting materials,” he said.
Projects at the raw water intake off Industrial Boulevard and the Cartecay Water Treatment Plant — a raw water pump variable frequency drive (VFD) and installation of a CO2 tank to treat raw water and boost alkalinity — are among what’s been delayed by supply issues.
McVey said an automatic transfer switch for the raw water intake project was expected to arrive and be installed in December, but was pushed back to sometime later this month.
“It’s really the same thing with the CO2 project. That has been ongoing for a while. However, we did receive word that the new CO2 tank we’ve been waiting on for months is supposed to be delivered this week,” he added. “The generator is supposed to be (delivered in) May of 2023, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it gets pushed back, as well. Our contractor has done everything they can do to get this thing going, so we’ll just have to see what happens, and we’ll get this stuff put in when we can get the equipment.”
The water authority did unexpectedly receive enough digital water meters to complete a countywide switchover from manually-read meters, McVey noted.
“We hadn’t planned to change any (meters) in January because of the workload. Between the weather and everything else, we were able to combine some smaller routes and 295 additional meters were changed in January. Due to the short month of February, we will probably work a few smaller routes again,” McVey said.