Wastewater Treatment Plant
City of Columbia, Illinois

Wastewater effluent is far below NPDES permit requirements

Horner & Shifrin provided design and construction engineering for improvements to the 1.5 million gallon per day three-cell lagoon wastewater treatment facility for the City of Columbia, Illinois. The improved facility uses a unique integrated process involving complete-mix aeration, a proprietary microorganism growth media (AquaMats) and native fish species to treat wastewater.

An engineering study prepared by Horner & Shifrin determined that modifying the existing lagoon to include a new aeration system would be the best alternative for meeting stricter effluent limitations. The study also recommended the use of AquaMats to replace the existing anaerobic rock filter. The improved wastewater treatment facility is the first use of AquaMats in the state of Illinois. To further polish the effluent, fathead minnow and bluegill fish were added to the final lagoon cell.

Facility has the capacity to provide treatment of a wastewater load equivalent to 15,000 people

The Columbia wastewater lagoon improvements were completed in May 2002. During the entire construction period the existing treatment facility was kept in service. This has for the first six months of operation, produced a wastewater effluent well below the requirements of its NPDES permit.

The facility has the capacity to provide treatment of a wastewater load equivalent to 15,000 people. Columbia, Illinois (with a present population of nearly 8,000), should get many years of service out of the lagoon improvements. The construction cost of the project was much less than the cost of a high-maintenance mechanical treatment plant that would produce similar results.

"Special Achievement Award" Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois, 2003

<< Back