VIRGINIA

Background:

West Milford, West Virginia, operates a two-cell lagoon at Greater Harrison County Public Service District (PSD) for its city wastewater. This lagoon is designed to treat 0.6 mgd domestic wastewater from its 2,000 residents. The District has been looking for a solution to improve the overall treatment process to meet its effluent ammonia limit.

Upgrading to Bio-Shells:

Greater Harrison County Public Service District (PSD) approached Wastewater Compliance Systems, Inc (WCS) in a seminar about the Bio-Shell, as well as a site visit with the Regional Supplier and a WCS representative. The District chose WCS’ Bio-Shells among other remediation options, including mechanical treatment systems. It is based upon its proven performance in nitrification, low capital and operating costs, and energy efficiency.

WCS installed 156 Bio-Shells in the final tertiary cell of the facility during November 2016.

The Harrison County community minimized its capital investment costs for the lagoon’s upgrade by choosing Bio-Shells, and will continue to enjoy monthly operating savings due to lower maintenance costs and energy savings compared to alternative solutions. WCS offers protection to its customers by providing a product warranty that includes a performance guarantee.

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Key Benefits of the Bio-Shell®:

1. A Bio-Shell® system represents the least expensive treatment upgrade available in terms of both capital expense as well as O&M expense.
2. An upgrade utilizing Bio-Shells will not require new operators with additional training, certification, and or a higher pay grade.
3. The Bio-Shell® system is intended to be a modular, expandable, system that is capable of growing with the facility over the next 20+ years.
4. The Bio-Shell® system can be coupled with other, more conventional, technologies to address future Phosphorous or Total Nitrogen limits.
5. Because of energy efficiency, the Bio-Shell® system can be considered “green” and will aid in qualifying the facility for Energy Efficiency grants if any are available through utility providers.

Bio-Dome/Bio-Shell® is featured in “Principles of Design and Operations of Wastewater Treatment Pond Systems for Plant Operators, Engineers, and Managers” (EPA/600/R-11/088).

For more on how a Bio-Shell ® solution can keep your lagoons compliant at a cost you can afford, DOWNLOAD BROCHURE

Background

Gary Crouch attended a presentation by WCS at the Virginia Rural Water show in April 2011. After the presentation Gary approached WCS about using the Bio-Domes to help address high TSS levels due to algae blooms during the summer. WCS proposed a pilot study through the 2011 summer months to evaluate the Bio-Domes ability to consume the algal TSS after killing it by blocking the sunlight. New Castle’s alternative was a sand filter that would be expensive to both build and operate.

Solution & Results

The pilot study ran from July – September 2011, after it was determined that the Bio-Domes could in fact solve New Castle’s algae problems, the community moved forward with a full scale design and implementation. The Bio-Domes were installed in April of 2012, and while there were a few hiccups during the start up period, after the Bird Balls were installed in the lagoons and a few operational changes were made, the results for both TSS and BOD levels have been exceptional. The historic effluent data can be seen below. The Bio-Domes have kept New Castle well below their permit limit as well as their historic effluent limits since August 2012.

Customer Feedback

The community is excited by the money they have saved in capital investments as well as the money they will save operationally.