Wright-Pierce was the recipient of a 2021 Gold Engineering Excellence Award from American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), New Hampshire Chapter, for our role in helping the Town of Exeter upgrade their wastewater treatment facility (WWTF).
Located along the banks of the Squamscott River, and a part of the Great Bay watershed, the Town of Exeter provides sewer service to approximately 3,600 residential, commercial, and industrial wastewater accounts within Town as well as small portions of the Towns of Stratham and Hampton. Exeter’s 3.0 MGD WWTF was comprehensively upgraded from an aerated lagoon facility to a new activated sludge treatment facility with nitrogen removal.
In 2012, the Town of Exeter, then operating an aerated lagoon facility with disinfection, was issued a new NPDES permit by the EPA which included stringent nitrogen removal requirements, that the existing WWTF was not able to accomplish. The EPA then issued an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) in 2013 which provided a framework and schedule for the Town to achieve compliance with the NPDES permit requirements. Wright-Pierce was retained to prepare a comprehensive Wastewater Facilities Plan that included a flows, loads and effluent standards analysis; an evaluation of existing facilities; a town wide nitrogen management plan; an evaluation of alternatives; a recommended plan of action; and a summary of project costs and financing methods.
The resulting projects included upgrade of the Main Pump Station; replacement of the Main Pump Station sewage force main; removal of legacy sludge for the lagoons; and comprehensive WWTF upgrades including new preliminary treatment, new activated sludge facilities, new UV system, repurposed aerated lagoons to equalization basins, new plant water system and chemical feed systems, new solids handling facilities, and new SCADA systems with high performance graphics. These new wastewater upgrades now allow the Town to effectively meet their current discharge limit for nitrogen.
Watch the video below to see the project evolution and contact us today to learn more.