City of Woodruff WWTP and Collection System Upgrades
The City of Woodruff and the Upstate region are on the cusp of growth. Ordinarily, that’s a good thing. But officials knew the city’s wastewater treatment plant wouldn’t be able to keep up with expanding residential, commercial and industrial demands. The facility was nearing the end of its lifespan, and the sewer collection system and pump stations were failing. In fact, the collection system had chronic problems, suffering constant sanitary sewer overflows due to holes in pipes.
One nearly-70-year-old pump station had repeated sanitary sewer overflows and spilled its contents directly into the path of school children walking to school. None of the pump stations had backup power, and the pumps, control panel, guide rails and valves were past their life expectancy and failed regularly.
It was time for a dramatic infrastructure expansion and modernization — upgrades that would halt the system failures, keep the public safe from spills and provide enough plant capacity for decades of growth.
Among the upgrades was technology to help clean the wastewater: New dual automatic bar screens help remove solids and trash; a moving bed bio reactor helps eliminate ammonia; and diffused air flotation technology, which removes fine solid particles, leaves the water crystal clear. To improve employee and public safety, the city transitioned to ultraviolent disinfection to replace its gas chlorination, which posed risks in the event of a spill. And for added reliability during a power failure, the upgrades included a paralleling generator system to provide redundancy if one generator fails.
City staff worked with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, the S.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and consultants to secure funding and permits necessary to improve their infrastructure.
After the city completed the improvements, word about the innovations spread among consultants and manufacturers, leading to officials in Alabama, Texas and Canada calling the City of Woodruff to learn more.
Contact Lee Bailey at lbailey@cityofwoodruff.com or 864.415.9573.