New regulations in the liquid and solids treatment areas of the water pollution control plant, aging infrastructure and capacity issues are driving capital improvements. To address these issues, a Master Plan team of both plant personnel and outside experts was formed in April 2001 to evaluate the impact of possible upcoming regulations and develop a long-range plan for major capital improvements at the plant. The following six major issues were evaluated:

• Redundancy and capacity of the biological process. Regulation changes in 1998 reduced the current capacity biological process from 40 to 30 MGD. Plans need to be developed to raise that capacity back to 40 MGD
• Wet weather treatment. DEQ is expecting the plant to severely decrease wet weather bypasses
• Odor/aesthetics/security of the facility
• More stringent effluent limits from state and federal regulations
• Improvements of biosolids treatment to ensure a means for ultimate disposal or reuse in the future
• Aging infrastructure of plant and off-site lift stations

With these issues in mind, the team developed a list of possible alternatives and evaluation criteria to prioritize future work. The criteria listed in order of priority include:

• Reliability
• Operability
• Public Acceptance
• Life Cycle Cost
• Ability to upgrade/expand as needed
• Flexibility
• Constructability/maintenance during construction

For more information, please contact Phil Loar at 703-228-6867.