Friday, January 4, 2002
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Friday, January 4, 2002 |
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Copper rising at Flat Creek WASA searching for source of increase in levels at aging plant By JOHN
MUNFORD
The presence of copper in lab tests from the aging Flat Creek wastewater treatment plant in Peachtree City is causing some concern. The obvious culprit has already been ruled out since lab data indicates that industrial sewage isn't to blame, said Susan Johnson, operations manager of the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority. That means there's a problem in the treatment process that needs to be fixed, but nailing down the answer won't be easy, Johnson told the authority at its regular meeting Monday night. "There are no straightforward or easy answers," Johnson cautioned. "... The search is very much like looking for a needle in a haystack." To find the problem, WASA will begin testing for the copper content in treated wastewater every week, although their permit only requires monthly testing. Johnson said more tests may be conducted on the plant's pH and alkalinity levels, but those are more expensive and the results won't be in quickly, she said. "We need to collect more data to determine a treatment strategy to remove the copper," Johnson said. The copper violations at the Flat Creek plant have cropped up for each of the last four months, and WASA will pay a $1,000 fine to the state Environmental Protection Division for each of those violations. WASA General Manager Larry Turner said the variety of flows to the Flat Creek plant can be difficult to handle. On a weekday, the plant handles up to 600,000 gallons, but on the weekends that drops to 150,000 gallons a day due to the dropoff in discharge from industries that are idle over the weekend, Turner said. Although the Flat Creek plant will be decommissioned after WASA completes its sewer system expansion next year, Johnson said it is important to have the copper issue solved by the time Flat Creek's sewage inflow is diverted to the city's larger wastewater treatment plant. WASA sends its copper samples to an outside lab for testing because the equipment involved is expensive, Johnson said. As a result, it takes several days before the results of the copper samples are available, she added. While Photocircuits has a high copper output in its wastewater, it pretreats that wastewater before submitting it to WASA for a final treatment, Johnson said. All industries who use pretreatment programs provide Johnson with their test results, she said. That way, she is able to dismiss the industries as a source of the increased copper levels. Johnson said she thinks the problem is at the Flat Creek plant itself. It could be that the presence of other metals is affecting the solubility of copper, causing the higher copper readings, she said.
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