Salisbury waste water treatment plant getting upgrade
The West Salisbury Little League is gearing up for another opening day, but in the outfield looms the construction of a new waste water treatment plant (WWTP). The construction is nothing new, but after stalled projects, for the first time in over a decade, actual change is on the horizon.
Back in 2005, the WWTP started a project to fall in line with Maryland State law, however three years later, the project flubbed, leading to a lawsuit – and later a settlement. The Salisbury Department of Public Works is not distracted by the past, rather keeping their eyes on the road ahead as this recent project starts to get some legs.
As the construction is ongoing, it will continue adjacent to the little league fields for two more seasons. West Salisbury LL President Kristen Wheatley says that she’s looking forward to the end of the project, set to be completed in December 2017, she adds “They’ve got some plans to cover things up so it’s not as exposed and you know it will be nice for the league to have a little bit better of a scenery but other than that it will be nice when it’s done.”
The construction though, hardly a headache for the league. Wheatley adds that one of the companies working on the project has even sponsored a team, and despite workers in and out, she says they have been a pleasure to have around. “They want to support the young kids, they want to help us with the little league any way that they can” Wheatley tells 47ABC.
Those construction companies come from different areas of the country. The construction management and inspection company is GHD, from nearby Bowie, Md. The design engineer is Brown and Caldwell coming north from Charlotte, NC. The general contractor, whose contract with the city is worth $50 million of the total $64 million cost, was brought in from Ohio.
The funding for the $64 million comes from several different avenues. The state of Maryland loaned the city $36 million through a Water Qualify State Revolving Fund Loan, which comes with 0% interest. Nearly 42% of the money ($26 million) is available through grants from the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE). Amanda Pollack, Deputy Director for the Department of Public Works says that only $2 million is coming from the city through tax money.
The money is going towards an upgraded system that Pollack calls reliable, tried, and tested. Currently, the water that is being released into the Wicomico River contains 8mg/L of Total Nitrogen and 2mg/L of Total Phosphorous. After the upgrade, those numbers will shrink to 4mg/L of Nitrogen, and 0.3mg/L of Phosphorous. This will happen by switching from filtering the water in the current system, to aerating the waste water. This is called the “bardenpho process”, a process in which the untreated water is sent through several different tanks, each with varying oxygen levels. The anarobic, arobic, and anoxic tanks break the water down to safe levels. It is then sent in a second time before being released into the river.
Pollack tells 47ABC “we’re still achieving really good quality right now, but we’ll be able to hit the highest level in the state when this is done, so we’re very proud of that”.
For the past 11 years, construction has been on again off again beyond the outfield fence of the little league field. As opening day nears right around the corner, bats will be swung, and players will sprint around the bases. For the City of Salisbury, the marathon project of the WWTP seems to finally be heading for home plate.
