PERFORMANCE PROFILE,
Parkville, Missouri
1: INITIAL OPERATIONS CHALLENGES
1: Initial Operations Challenges
-
The City of Parkville was in need of
interim operations services to maintain a critical utility
service due to the lack of qualified personnel. - Plant performance needed improvement.
- Reporting functions for the wastewater department needed improvement.
- The City was planning and budgeting for capital expenditures at the wastewater utility and considering process changes.
2: Project Background
Alliance Water Resources, Inc. provides
complete operation and maintenance services for the City
of Parkville’s wastewater facilities, including the
treatment plant, collection system, and lift stations. The
sludge is digested into biosolids and then either hauled
to another treatment facility for further treatment or land
applied according to 503 regulations.
Alliance provided interim service at the request of the City, supplying operation of the wastewater treatment facilities by drawing on expertise from other Alliance operating divisions. Upon assuming full operations and maintenance responsibilities, Alliance placed a qualified system manager in Parkville to supplement the existing staff.
Interim operation of the treatment facilities allowed the City to take the time to carefully evaluate proposals for contract operation. After an agreement was reached, Alliance provided a qualified full time system manager to operate and manage the City's wastewater system. Existing staff became part of Alliance's work force to ensure continuity.
Capital expenditures have progressed on schedule, but not always as planned. Rapid deterioration of the existing treatment plant resulted in a major valve breakdown before replacement systems were in place. Through dedicated operation (the system manager literally slept on site), Alliance maintained a proper treatment process and continued to meet the City’s NPDES permit limitations.
- Plant
effluent quality improved shortly after Alliance
assumed responsibility.
A system of work orders was implemented and preventative maintenance schedules were established. - Problems with a network of 631 grinder pumps and an odor control chemical feed system produced multiple line breaks and excessive service calls. Alliance partnered with an engineering company to investigate, and found the problem’s origin in prior maintenance of force mains. The problem was fixed and results were immediate: service calls have been reduced by 71 percent. A proactive maintenance program has also been established.
- Automatic air release valves have been installed to prevent high pressure water pumps from becoming air locked. Keeping the system free of air pockets insures a more productive treatment process and reduces costly equipment failure.
- Recent upgrades will optimize the City’s biological treatment process to improve the quality of effluent entering back into the local environment. The treatment facility recently expanded to include aeration basins (converted from existing sequence batch reactor basins), new clarifiers, a second sludge digester, and new control building with state-of-the-art control system. Additional sludge storage will assure a more flexible land application program.
- Collection system and treatment plant improvements were completed in 2005. Upgrades include the erection of a trash basket to capture large debris and a grit chamber small particle removal, a pump wet well, installation of an odor control system and re-piping the intake of the existing pumps. These improvements and others are anticipated to save the City more than $10,000 each year in decreased equipment repair costs for pumps, motors and collection system.
- The City saves more than $30,000 annually in sludge disposal costs due to the Alliance-implemented sludge application program.