Waterbury’s wastewater innovation earns EPA award
June 5, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of two stories about wastewater management and technology in use in Waterbury.
Investments in technology, equipment and staffing know-how at Waterbury’s wastewater treatment plant in recent years have paid off with an award from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
On Friday, a bay at the plant that sits tucked between the Winooski River and U.S. Route 2 was transformed for a ceremony that hosted Vermont’s Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Moore and the EPA’s top official in New England Regional Administrator David Cash. They came to deliver in person an EPA PISCES Award to Waterbury.
About 20 other town staff, local elected officials, and others were on hand for the occasion that had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accepting the honor were Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk, wastewater treatment plant Chief Operator Peter Krolczyk, and Skip Flanders, chair of the Edward Farrar Utility District Board of Commissioners. Cynthia Parks, who sits on the utility district commission and also is an engineer in the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Investment Division, made the introductions for the ceremony.
The EPA Pisces Awards acknowledge projects supported by the agency’s Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund that have exceptional outcomes. Waterbury’s facility earned the recognition for 2018 for adopting new technology that dramatically reduced phosphorus levels in the treated wastewater that it discharges into the Winooski River and ultimately into Lake Champlain.
Moore said a key objective for state and federal regulators is to reduce pollution in rivers and lakes and the upgrades to the Waterbury plant over the last decade have ensured that the plant’s discharge is no longer polluting nearby waterways.
Shepeluk said the nearly $7.5 million in improvements to the plant were a long time in the making. He recalled that it was soon after he became town manager in 1988 when he was alerted to Waterbury’s wastewater plant not being in compliance with state discharge regulations. Since then, the standards have only become more stringent, he noted.
Moore commended the Waterbury treatment plant staff, and Krolczyk in particular for working to maximize their operation and get the most from the technology investment. “Wastewater operators are some of our most incredible environmental stewards whose work protects the environment and public health,” she said.
In visiting Waterbury for the first time, Cash said he appreciated the chance to see firsthand technology at work that reflects policies and investments that state and federal agencies support. “This is where the action happens, where changes are made,” he said.
Steps taken at wastewater treatment plants, for example, ultimately have an impact on resources the public uses in many ways. Cash said he imagines families enjoying beaches along Lake Champlain. If they can do so and not encounter algae blooms due to phosphorus pollution, permits and regulations and treatment plants employing the latest technology have succeeded, he said.
Shepeluk said Waterbury officials worked with the state on new approaches that eventually meant a $355,000 bond supported by village voters in 2012 and $216,000 from a municipal revolving loan fund. The remainder came from federal and state funding.
The equipment added to Waterbury’s treatment system carries the brand name Co-Mag and it removes phosphorus from water by bonding it to heavy iron sand that settles easily. Prior to installing this system, water leaving the Waterbury facility contained 5 to 8 milligrams per liter of phosphorus which met older standards. Since 2016, however, new standards call for much less.
Krolczyk said water discharged today contains less than 0.2 milligrams of phosphorus -- a reduction of more than 95%. Calling the end result “drinking water” quality, he joked that when he paddles the Winooski River with friends, he tells them the water is cleanest near the treatment plant discharge.
Krolczyk also explained that the technology is efficient enough to require the plant only to run three days a week given the volume it receives. The plant could handle daily volumes of over 500,000 gallons of wastewater but currently only receives about 150,000. It has capacity, Krolczyk said, to take in even more if necessary. “We can bring in 1.5 million gallons a day in a huge rain event and still run,” he said.
Krolczyk, who retires later this month after 20 years with the Waterbury Wastewater Department, was the 2019 recipient of the Wastewater Operator Excellence Award from the Green Mountain Water Environment Association.
The plant also spreads the phosphorus-laden sand in outdoor beds to dry before it is trucked to Quebec for disposal in what is an old asbestos mine. That volume, too, has dropped dramatically from more than a ton prior to the new system to about 310 pounds annually mixed with the sand, officials said.
In his remarks, Shepeluk addressed Moore and Cash directly to call for yet another level of innovation in this chain. Farmers, for example, may be able to use phosphorus. Reducing what is trucked and dumped would save costs and create efficiencies, Shepeluk said.
“Let’s think again outside the box,” he said. “I bet there is some value in that phosphorus. Help us find markets.”
Connecting with water utility history
One of Waterbury’s most avid local historians, Flanders in his remarks harkened back to recount the story of a figure from the early 20th century who has returned to the fore in recent years.
When the Waterbury village municipality was dissolved in 2018, all of its governmental functions ended, leaving its main focus oversight of the water and wastewater operations. The new entity was chartered as a utility district and named after Edward Farrar who was born in 1844. Farrar had multiple roles in Waterbury including firefighter and police officer, Flanders said. In 1904, Farrar was president of the village Board of Trustees and a water commissioner.
“Farrar died on Oct. 14, 1904, in a trench cave-in at the head of Elm Street installing a sewer line,” Flanders told the gathering before asking for a moment of silence. “I think he would be very proud of what’s been done in the nearly 118 years since his death.”
Following the award presentation, Krolczyk led Moore, Cash and several others on a tour of the facility.
Staying on top of daily operations
The award presentation was a highlight for the week recognizing the precision of the plant’s system. Just two days earlier, Waterbury’s plant was the subject of a public alert from the Agency of Natural Resources that called attention to a needed equipment adjustment.
An open valve in the system on one of the lagoons combined with high water levels resulted in just shy of 21,000 gallons of partially treated effluent being discharged. Assistant Operator Matt Jones noticed it on Wednesday when he arrived and filed a report with the state. The plant at the time was not running, he noted.
Krolczyk explained that the concentration of the effluent released did not violate any permit parameters. “Immediate testing of the partially treated, 20,900 gallons that went to the Winooski River, revealed the pH, settleable solids, and the E.coli count were all within the state discharge permit limits,” he said.
As it turned out, the valve at issue had been in the open position for nearly a year but it had not posed a problem until last week. Krolczyk said the combination of the weekend plant shutdown and the draining of the Waterbury swimming pool on Tuesday pushed the lagoon level up.
“In my 20 years of working at this plant, this perfect scenario has never occurred before,” he said, adding that the valve was adjusted to prevent this from occurring again. “Human error is always a factor in operating a facility of this magnitude and complexity. We try real hard to mitigate such mistakes.”
The public alerts when something goes awry are important, he noted. “Transparency is a foundation in this business, even in little things, as most wastewater operators focus more on protecting the environment than just compliance.”