Physical Address
108 Frank Satterfield Rd.
Perry, GA 31069

Phone: 478-988-2777
Fax:     478-988-2778
skelly@esginc.net

To report a sewer leak
For an emergency call 911
For non-emergency call 478-338-2846

Waste Water Treatment Plant

The City of Perry Waste Water Treatment facility is a publicly owned utility charged with the responsibility for collection and treatment of residential, public, commercial, and industrial wastewater within the city limits.

The City of Perry owns and operates the entire sewer system infrastructure which consist of:  one 3mgd wastewater treatment plant, 17 pump stations, approximately 76,560 linear feet (14.5 miles) of force main, and approximately 530,640 linear feet (100.50 miles) of gravity sewer.

The wastewater treatment facility uses the Activated Sludge Process for the removal of pollutants.  Activated Sludge refers to the process of "farming" microorganisms by providing food and air.  The microorganisms treat the wastewater through biological and chemical processes.

This sludge is rich in nutrients and organic matter.  It is an ideal substance for soil amendment.  After processing through composting, offensive organic matter and pathogenic organisms have been reduced.  The end product is a valuable soil amender adding both organics and nutrients back into the soil.

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit for our facility allows for the treated water from this facility to be beneficially re-used. This means that the water must meet very high quality standards for wastewater.  The pH must be between 6.0 and 9.0 standard units; the Total Suspended Solids must be 20 milligrams per liter (mg/l) per month or 30 mg/l per week or less and the Fecal Coliform Bacteria must be 200/100 colonies per 100 milliliter (ml) or less.

Water treated to this level is acceptable for use in a variety of ways.  Currently the treated water is returned to Big Indian Creek to maintain healthy stream levels.  This re-use helps the health of the receiving stream (Big Indian Creek) by eliminating the high volume demand for potable water and irrigation systems that normally would be put on the stream. This results in more water staying in the stream.

 Primary Treatment

• Industrial and domestic sewage enters the plant through gravity and force mains
• Flows are measured instantaneously.  Our treatment plant is designed and permitted to treat 3.0 MGD
• Trash, debris, grit, and other undesirable materials are removed with large screens, augers, and pumps
• These materials are discarded at the landfill

 Sewage Pump Stations

• Pumps wastewater from the collection system to the Wastewater Treatment Plant
• These stations are designed by Engineers, as there are many factors to consider when designing a station to meet the City’s needs
• Uses a series of motors, pumps and pipes of different sizes to accomplish this task
• Perry currently has 17 pump stations
• Checked daily for proper operation

Activated Sludge

• Pumps transport the influent wastewater to the aeration basins
• Here the wastewater is introduced to a concentrated mass of microorganisms called “mixed liquor”
• These microorganisms utilize the nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon in the wastewater as an energy source while breaking down the wastewater and reproducing

Aeration

• Blowers supply air to the microorganisms so they can live and reproduce 
• This air keeps the organisms in suspension by mixing and prevents the solids from settling
• Perry’s treatment plant is equipped with two, 200 HP blowers to meet these oxygen requirements

Sedimentation & Clarification

• The “mixed liquor” or biomass gravity flows to basins called clarifiers
• In the clarifiers this biomass or microorganisms are allowed to settle in steady state conditions without air or mixing
• The sludge that settles on the bottom of the clarifiers is returned to the aeration basin and or wasted to the digesters
• The recycled biomass is known as RAS and the biomass wasted to the digesters is known as WAS
• The amount of RAS and WAS is determined by the desired sludge age
• The clear water flows over weirs on top of the basin to the next phase of treatment

Chlorination

• Clear water called “effluent” is discharged from the clarifiers and dosed with chlorine
• The amount of chlorine used depends on the strength or concentration of solids and organic material in the wastewater
• Perry uses approximately 35 pounds per day of chlorine gas to treat the effluent
• This usually gives us a 0.5 mg/l chlorine residual after the demand is met

Disinfection

• After dosing the effluent with chlorine, the wastewater is sent to a basin called a “chlorine contact chamber”
• This chamber is designed to give the chlorine approximately 30 minutes of contact time with the effluent wastewater
• This gives the chlorine adequate time to kill any pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria
• The chlorine residual is measured daily
• The effluent is then aerated again to meet dissolved oxygen requirements

Chemical Addition

• Chemical addition is conducted throughout the plant and again prior to discharge
• This ensures the life of the microorganisms in the plant and ensures the life of the fish and organisms in the stream after discharge
• pH is ensured by the addition of “Caustic Soda”

Dechlorination

• Prior to discharge all effluent waters are dechlorinated to prevent a “fish kill” in the discharge creek
• Dechlorination is achieved by the addition of Sulfur Dioxide gas
• Perry’s treatment plant uses approximately 50 pounds per day of S02
• This is the final phase of treatment before discharging the effluent into the receiving stream – “Big Indian Creek”

Aerobic Digestion

• Biosolids or WAS "Waste Activated Sludge" from the clarifiers are pumped into basins called digesters
• These digesters are equipped with blowers to introduce dissolved oxygen or air into the sludge to control odors
• These digesters are used to thicken the sludge for final disposal by belt pressing or dewatering in sludge drying beds

Biosolids Handling

• The sludge from the digesters is pumped to a belt press
• This belt press uses chemicals and high pressure rollers to remove the water from the sludge
• A dry cake is produced and ultimately disposed of in the landfill
• The average biosolids cake produced is typically 18%

Dewatering

• As a backup to the belt press, the plant is equipped with eight Sludge Drying Beds
• These beds are also used to dewater the sludge
• Layers of sand and gravel over a under-drain system allows the water to pass through the drying beds and the sludge remains on top of the beds to dry
• This is very labor intensive task as these beds have to be manually cleaned
• This sludge is removed from the top of the bed and sent to the landfill for disposal

Laboratory Analyses

• Permit and process control samples are analyzed by lab personnel
• All analyses are documented and confirmed using a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program
• Known standards are analyzed to verify test procedures were followed correctly
• If data does not meet QA/QC standards, the test must be repeated for accuracy
• All lab data is reported monthly to EPD
• Nearly 2,000 QA/QC samples are analyzed per year

 Industrial Pretreatment

• Operations personnel are responsible for monitoring industrial discharges
• Samplers are setup on the industries to ensure they don’t discharge toxic materials to the wastewater treatment plant and kill or upset the microorganisms
• Toxic materials could upset the plant and cause a poor quality of effluent wastewater to be discharged to the receiving stream

Maintenance

• Operations personnel are responsible for preventative and corrective maintenance of the wastewater treatment plant, sewage pump stations and related equipment
• In the past year, more than 1800 work orders were completed on the wastewater facilities

Wastewater Treatment Plant Summary

• Perry’s Waste Water facility is a Class II facility
• Treated more than 900 million gallons of wastewater in 2010
• Belt pressed approximately 325 dry tons of sludge in 2010
• Reduced callouts by 50% since 2006
• More than 4,000 lab analyses were conducted for compliance, and approximately 1,533 QA/QC samples were analyzed in 2010