Wastewater treatment center up and running

By JUSTIN HARMON/Staff

Though the ribbon cutting and official dedication to the former superintendent was on Thursday, the Wolf Creek Water Reclamation Facility has been up and running for weeks.
Abingdon Town Manager Greg Kelly said the $9.8 million expansion of the wastewater treatment plant began three years ago to keep up with projected growth trends in the town and county.
“It means it will sustain growth without too much difficulty,” he said of the project.
The plant’s superintendent, Michael Maiden, said most of the improvements were in the form of expanding capacity and installing new equipments, such as pumping systems.
Maiden said a number of improvements went beyond what the state Department of Environmental Quality requires. One such change is that the Abingdon plant filters nitrogen and phosphorus from the water. Maiden said though that measure isn’t required now, because the nitrogen content is killing the Chesapeake Bay, he anticipates limits will be set in the future.
The plant also performs a third, unrequired filtering of the water.
“It gives us an extremely high level of efficiency,” he said.
Ask the minnows from Wolf Creek that are living happily and healthily in an aquarium set up at the end of the filtration line.
Another new feature is that the plant is stepping away from chlorine as a water purifying agent.
Chlorine, he said, is bad for the environment and a hazard to the people who work for him.
“If those chemicals get out, you’re talking about evacuating a two mile radius around the plant,” he said.
Now, instead of harsh chemicals, the plant uses ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and other living contaminants.
“It’s a state-of-the-art facility,” said Maiden. “It’s the premier wastewater plant in Southwest Virginia.”
Kelly said the plant will serve town residents. An agreement with the county has also been drafted, he said.
The plant originally went online in 1977 and had around 1,000 connections, about a quarter of the number it has today.