C+S April 2020 Vol. 6 Issue 4

Blodgett Landing

Large commercial and industrial systems In some cases, towns and municipalities have a centralized WWTF but it is overburdened and cannot support community growth. In this case, large decentralized systems can be designed to handle new, large flow commercial and industrial development, thereby decreasing the hy- draulic and nutrient stress placed on centralized wastewater treatment plants and augmenting the capacity to sustain community growth. In the case of community wastewater treatment facilities that are reaching or over capacity, adding an exfiltration bed utilizing subsurface infiltra- tion, such as an engineered chamber system, can extend the life and community investment in the WWTF and have the added benefit of reducing phosphorus and eliminating outfall discharges to bodies of water. Professional management Recognizing the need to advocate advanced wastewater treatment systems of a scale that will support positive development, health of- ficials also recognize and often require these systems to be profession- ally managed. Professional management provides more control on the quality of the waste treatment process. If competent management is available, some utilities are even favoring this approach as the most cost effective long-term solution.

Applications in Action Paradise, California FEMA Workforce Housing Camp Utilizes a Combined Treatment and Dispersal System to Speed Construction Timeline and Overcome Site Limitations The 2018 “Camp Fire” devastated the community of Paradise, Califor- nia, killing 85 people, destroying 11,000 homes, and displacing nearly 50,000 people. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needed to quickly stabilize the situation and support rehabilitation of the community. This required a 1500-person workforce housing camp, including 400 temporary housing units, a laundromat, and food prepa- ration and dining facilities. Design and installation complications included accelerated deadlines and shallow lava formations, which precluded subsurface dispersal, impeded construction, and required specialized excavation equipment. A General Order Permit was acquired to speed development. NexGen Engineering designed a 100,000 gallon-per-day (GPD) Ad- vanced Enviro-Septic (AES) combined treatment and dispersal system that receives gravity-flow influent to four, 40,000-gallon septic tanks configured in series. The effluent is then segregated into four treatment paths to facilitate isolation during maintenance. The flow is split to four, lined, AES beds for passive, secondary treatment. Each 25,000

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april 2020

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