News
Nelsonville’s New Water Treatment Plant Now Online
By: Sara Brumfield | Athens Messenger
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Nelsonville’s new water treatment plant is online and providing water to city residents and businesses.
Ground was broken for the new plant back in August 2012. The project was completed last month and the new plant replaces the city’s former treatment facility, which was built in 1938. As The Messenger previously reported, the old plant was designed to treat surface water, however in the 1980s, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency made the city convert to a well water source. Nelsonville has three wells that supply the city with drinking water.
The project has been in the planning and development stages since 2008, according to information provided by the city.
“It was decided to utilize conventional treatment techniques including filtration for iron and manganese removal and ion exchange for softening the very hard well water,” states a brochure about the project.
Improvements to the water treatment system included new raw waterlines from the wells to provide reliable and stable drinking water for the residents of Nelsonville for many years to come. The project cost more than $4.7 million, with 15 percent funded through grants and the remainder funded with low interest loans.
The new treatment process is automated and can be operated and monitored remotely through a computer interface.
The waste stream from the new plant including filter backwash, ion exchange regeneration and rinsing and domestic waste is discharged into the sanitary sewer system for treatment at the wastewater treatment plant.
“There is a backwash holding tank to allow the surge of backwash water to be slowly sent to the city’s collection system to prevent surcharging the sewer collection system or any pump stations,” the brochure states.
The project also involved demolishing the old water treatment plant, which was located next to the new plant on Lake Hope Drive.