Speedway reaches agreement with IDEM


The Town of Speedway has reached an Agreed Order with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to fix the ammonia and E-Coli problems that are classified as violations.
Waste Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Norm Berry explained the projected cost is $850,000 if both phases are necessary to implement. Berry hopes the problem can be remedied without entering into phase-two, installing domes over the two 25-foot nitrification towers. These towers are 60 feet in diameter. “They are used to remove ammonia in the wastewater,” Berry said.
The first stage of remedial action is to replace the two layer plastic media where bacteria growth occurs and upgrade the distribution system. He doesn’t think the moss has grown below the media layer. An upgraded distribution system would also keep the moss flushed out of the system.
The domes may be necessary to inhibit moss growth. The domes shield the sunlight to stop the moss growth and its quick spore-producing ability. It is the moss growth that disrupts the treatment processing by increasing the ammonia level.
The dome installation would drive the project up by $300,000. Berry thinks the first phase can take care of the problem for $580,000, and he thinks there is a chance the town will qualify for a $319,000 grant to cover some of the cost.
Berry is hesitant to add the domes because it would require a crane to remove them if accessibility to the interior of the tanks were needed.
He explained the E-Coli problem could be fixed in-house by expanding the dechlorination and chlorination capacity.
Berry invited the public to tour the wastewater treatment plant and to receive notice when a combined sewer overflow occurs at the plant, resulting in untreated sewage being dumped into Big Eagle Creek. The untreated waters bypassed the plant on March 14 due to the heavy rains.
The $21.3 million plant expansion, as required by IDEM, should “in theory” eliminate plant bypasses for a ten-year, one-hour event that is equivalent to 1.16 inches of rain.
The plant expansion would be a five-year construction phase to be completed by 2012.
Richard Claus, PE, BCEE of HNTB Corporation explained sewer rates would increase from an average of $261.00 per year to an annual average of $404.00.