After six years of planning and a year and half of construction work, two new clarifiers are up and running at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The installation of the two new clarifiers began in the spring of 2024, but the expansion was a long-term project after one of the existing clarifiers experienced an unexpected failure and was taken offline in 2019.
This $20 million capital investment project replaced the one failed clarifier and added a second one to accommodate future capacity needs as Greenville continues to grow in industry and population. Building the two at the same time ended up saving money in the long run as construction crews were already on site and the price of construction is expected to rise in the future.
Plus, there was a bonus in moving forward with a new clarifier design. “The new design is much more efficient than the 1985 vintage clarifiers,” WWTP Superintendent Jason Manning said. Jason said these new clarifiers are able to dampen out pulses and surges in flow to ensure sludge settles, allowing clear, treated water to continue through the filtration and disinfection treatment process.
“The task of a clarifier is to use gravity to separate the biological solids and the treated water, so if a clarifier is able to mute those pulses in flow more efficiently, then that is really good. It settles better and faster,” he said.
Jason said the onsite work went well throughout the year and a half of construction, citing the exceptional contractors and the proactive and engaged staff for making it happen.
“State Utilities have been great to work with throughout the process. Our Plant staff have been very engaged in the construction, as well. If there were things that needed to be adjusted, we were able to do that in the field, which gave us a better product in the end. It is worth noting that it is rare for projects of this size and complexity to be this near completion with no change orders. I attribute that to our operation and maintenance staff being very engaged with this project all along the way,” Jason said.
