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The
Vision of the City Council -
A new Land Application Plant
With ever increasing regulation about discharging
into the River, the City Council elected to abandon the idea of
building a new plant on the site, or even fixing the old plant.
Instead they opted for a concept that was being used successfully
outside of Atlanta – land application. Members of a Citizens’ group
visited the site, and with engineers and staff, agreed this method
would help the City meet its ever growing needs in an environmentally
friendly manner.
This is one of thousands of spray heads at the City's Land Application
Plant.
After
City wastewater is treated in a lagoon, the effluent
is sprayed on a pine plantation with careful consideration
to how much water the pine trees and ground can absorb.
The process naturally recharges the groundwater in
the area.
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But the concept was rather new to North Carolina, and it took nearly 12 years
to bring the plant past the concept, permitting and building stage to have
it treat wastewater in 1998. By the end of that year, all the City’s
wastewater had been diverted from the Wilson Bay Plant, and was being treated
at the new Land Application Plant.
How it works.
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