About the Waste Water Department
The Board owns, maintains and operates three separate sanitary sewer systems that serve the City of Sylacauga. The main system serves the central business district, the industrial park, and the surrounding residential development, and drains to the J. Earl Ham Wastewater Treatment Plant , located on Shirtee Creek in the northwestern part of the city. A densely developed residential area known as Valley View is situated north of the main business district, and is served by an independent sewer system and treatment plant. This system accounts for less than ten percent of the wastewater originating in Sylacauga. The third system serves the Fairmont area, located at the north corporate limit. The Fairmont System also accounts for less than ten percent of the total wastewater originating in the Sylacauga area.
The sewer system includes 204 miles of sewer pipe ranging in size from 4 to 30 inches in diameter, eight lift stations, and three wastewater treatment plants. The system provides sanitary sewer service to 6,123 customers. The average daily flow in 2005 was 3.203 million gallons per day with a peak flow of 8.825 million gallons per day. The combined peak treatment capacity of the three plants is currently 7.0 million gallons per day.
During 1987 the Board completed construction of improvements to the sewer system that cost $12,196,200. Of this amount, $6,770,260 was provided by a federal grant and the balance was financed by a combination of Bond proceeds and retained earnings. The project included the construction of the J. Earl Ham Plant, the construction of the Fairmont Plant, the upgrading of the Valley View Plant, new sewer interceptors and collectors, and rehabilitation of existing sewer mains. The improvements allowed the Board to meet State and Federal wastewater discharge limits up to the current date.
In recent years the Board has undertaken several sewer system improvement projects. In late 1998 the Board began the J. Earl Ham WWTP Sludge Handling and Grit Removal project, which included the construction of a new sludge handling facility, and the installation of a grit classifier system at the headworks of the plant. A new two-meter belt filter press was installed to replace the existing trailer-mounted press used for sludge dewatering. The cost of this expansion was approximately $1.3 million.
Current improvements underway include the following:
-
To expand the treatment capacity and reduce operational manpower, the Board is in the design phase of replacing the Valley View Treatment Plant with a pumping station and force main. The estimated cost of this project, which consists of a 1.0 million gallon per day (MGD) pumping station and 10,600 linear feet of 8-inch force main is approximately $1,000,000.
-
Recognizing the expansion of wastewater flows at the J. Earl Ham WWTP from the above projects, projected future growth and the need to maintain adequate peak flow handling, the Board is currently under construction in doubling the capacity of the H. Earl Ham WWTP. This will increase the average daily capacity from 2.4 MGD to 4.8 MGD. This project includes new bar screens, two new aeration basins, two new clarifiers, an aerobic sludge digester, expansion of the chlorine contact chamber, new electrical switchgear, a new sand filter and miscellaneous sludge pumps. The cost of this project was approximately $7,3000,000.