Commenced in the spring of 2018, the project involved replacing the liner in the 34-year-old facility’s lagoon
Kentucky American Water completes two-year improvement project. (Credit: Pixabay/rony michaud)
Kentucky American Water, an investor-owned utility company, has announced that it has completed a wastewater plant improvement project in Owenton, Kentucky.
The total cost of the two-year improvement project was more than $3.6m for site prep work and upgrades.
The project, which is expected to help extend the life of the facility by at least two decades, was started in the spring of 2018.
It included replacing the liner in the 34-year-old facility’s lagoon, which is a 120,000ft2, 30-feet-deep, man-made pond capable of holding 7 million gallons of water and used in the process of breaking down waste matter.
The firm has replaced the existing liner with a new membrane, instead of replacing it with a new one and also added an additional liner. It is expected to provide more protection against leakage of matter into groundwater and surface water sources.
Project involved cleaning out the lagoons of existing matter
Additionally, the project is expected to help the facility to meet the community’s wastewater treatment needs for at least another 25 years.
Kentucky American Water senior project engineer Cole Mitcham said: “While this project certainly had its share of challenges due to the excessive rainfall of 2018, our contractors and employees did a phenomenal job working through these issues, and in the end, we are pleased with the results of their collective efforts.
“Owenton’s wastewater facility is now a more modern and efficient plant that will help provide reliable, quality service to customers for many more years to come.”
The firm said that the project involved first cleaning out the lagoons of existing matter and grading around the lagoon to prevent drainage from neighboring properties going into it.
It also includes upgrading pumps, electrical components, rehabilitating pumphouse aerators and upgrading a nitrification tower on site.
In May, Pennsylvania American Water announced the start of construction to install 7,000 feet of new water main and a booster station in Burgettstown Borough, Washington County.