Representatives of the City of Murray gathered to celebrate the start of a new project that will improve service at the wastewater treatment plant and allows them to keep up with business and residential growth in the area.The City of Murray, KY, a GRW client since 1978, is embarking on a project to improve its wastewater treatment plant and prepare it to keep up with the rapid growth the area has seen in recent years.
When the project is complete, the plant will be able to treat 8.75 million gallons per day (MGD), up from 5.25 MGD. While this type of infrastructure improvement can be relatively unnoticed, it also is the kind of improvement that can assure residents and business owners the City is taking the necessary and required steps to ensure continued reliability of this important basic service for their families and their customers.
The treatment plant has been designed with three primary goals in mind: (1) environmental stewardship, (2) energy efficiency throughout, and (3) operational flexibility. A few of the numerous features of the plant include the following:
- Highly efficient screening and grit removal
- Biological treatment consisting of a vertical loop reactor in series with three conventional oxidation ditches. This unique flow pattern is designed to promote biological removal of phosphorus and nitrogen.
- Conversion to ultraviolet disinfection. The new UV units will be paced by flow and UV transmissivity to take advantage of energy savings and insure appropriate levels of treatment.
- Replacement of the existing constant speed non-potable water pump station with more energy-efficient, variable-speed, constant-pressure pumps. The non-potable reuse throughout the treatment plant site will be expanded.
- Use of a rotary fan press for biosolids dewatering – one of Kentucky’s first
- Use of green features related to stormwater quantity/quality such as biofiltration swales, rain gardens, and/or pervious pavements.
A story about the ground breaking ceremony held July 9, 2015 was featured in the Murray Ledger & Times newspaper (subscription may be required for viewing). Read a PDF copy of the article.