Slatington to upgrade antiquated sewer plant

Slatington will advertise for bids to update its antiquated wastewater treatment plant.

Council President Dan Stevens said the project will result in upgrades to the digester at the sewer plant. The project is anticipated to get started sometime this year.

In March 2017, the borough received a $395,185 Small Water and Sewer Grant for the aging 1950s treatment plant.

Funding for the project came from the Commonwealth Financing Agency, which manages the state’s economic stimulus programs.

The funding will be used to convert one of two digestion tanks to an aerobic design and make necessary installations and repairs.

The plant currently has no functioning digesters and is only able to use a portion of the smaller tank’s capacity for sludge-holding purposes.

The project will help bring the plant into compliance. In addition, aerobic digestion is a safer process, as buildup of toxic gases is eliminated.

The plant, originally constructed in 1956 and expanded in 1995, houses two digesters, two filters and two clarifiers. The clarifiers filter the water and waste that flows into the plant allowing the waste to settle and “sludge” to form. Once the sludge reaches a height of one-and-a-half feet inside the clarifiers, a valve is turned to allow the excess sludge to move into the 1950s constructed digester.

The digester is supposed to use the naturally occurring methane gas to send a “bubble” down to the bottom of the structure to mix up the sludge, breaking it down to an acceptable level and then pumped into three trucks to be hauled out of town during the week.

The digester constructed in the ‘50s will still be on reserve for any emergency situation.

The plant will install a “blower” system inside the offline tank, using air instead of methane to mix and thicken the sludge in the revamped tank creating a denser consistency. The blowers will be powered by electricity, blowing air through lines constructed in the bottom of the tank.

Clear water separated from the waste will be taken from the top of the sludge and sent back to the beginning of the plant at the start of the process.

The plant serves not only Slatington, but Walnutport and parts of Washington Township. Between the three municipalities, an estimated 1.5 million gallons of water and waste passes through the system a day.