WACO, Texas — Amid growing community concern about an approved wastewater treatment plant along the Brazos River, Texas A&M University-Central Texas Facilities, Safety and Support Services Manager Shawn Kelley said with proper maintenance, and if Environmental Protection Agency regulations are followed, the plant "should be" harmless to the community and river water quality.
"We pull water out of one side of the city and put it back through the wastewater treatment plant," said Kelley. "Knowing that this is a brand-new sewage treatment plant, the environmental impact is [negligible]."
The City of Waco approved the $4.3 million plan last year to build the plant in the Chalks Bluff community.
"Once the water has been treated in a water treatment plant it goes into the water towers, and from there, when it leaves, it goes through the system into a wastewater treatment plant," Kelley said.
Through the treatment of the water, during the screening process, Kelley said "big things" that appear as waste and miscellaneous trash are pulled out of the water, followed by a sorting process that removes sand, gravel and small rocks before the water is allowed to settle.
From there a trickling filter pours the water over rocks in the facility, where the bacteria in the water are pulled out of the molecules and form on the rocks' surfaces.
"They'll use a sludge digester, and they’ll concentrate that in a drying bed to get the water out of it and the dry material can be used as a fertilizer, but when that water goes back into the river it’s cleaner than when it came out," Kelley said.
Then, through the sewage lift station, Kelley said it will be flooded with fresh water and, as the water is released downstream, any remaining residue will dissipate, and as it dilutes, "oxygen and critters" will eat any remaining residue.
"The facility itself will be doing water quality analysis every single day and the EPA will want those reports and flag the facility if they see any rises in harmful toxins," Kelley said.
To ensure the safety function of the new facility, Kelley urges all residents to avoid throwing solid objects down the toilet and avoid putting substances like oil down a drain as the sewage treatment plant would only be designed to remove natural bacteria from the water.
"Every water treatment facility all the way to the gulf will more than likely pull it out of the Brazos River and it’s going to be sanitized and cleaned, so even if there is something that gets out, it will get fixed at the water treatment plant downstream," Kelley said.
The Protect Lake Brazos group said they will be in attendance at the City's public meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5 at the convention center to further discuss the project and will be available for public questions.
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