Remote Prison WWTP Locked Up Against Environmental Regulations

Problem

The Bledsoe County Correctional Complex (BCCX) is a Tennessee Department of Correction Facility located in a remote area in Southeast Tennessee, serving around 3,000 people between inmates and staff. To account for future facility expansion, the wastewater treatment plant needed to double its capacity. However, the current plant discharges into a stream that is designated as an Exceptional Tennessee Water Source and faces stringent effluent limits to preserve the water sources. The facility could not discharge any additional water and therefore had to find an alternative solution for the effluent when doubling the capacity. Due to its remote location, pumping to a nearby municipal system was not an option.

Solution

The most feasible option for the expansion to ensure all environmental considerations were met was to land-apply half of the treated capacity using a spray irrigation system. The WWTP expansion also included expanded headworks, influent flow equalization, sequencing batch reactors, effluent filters, aerobic sludge digestion, ultraviolet disinfection, and the land application of effluent by spray irrigation. Plant capacity was doubled, to an average flow of 0.63 MGD with peak flow capacity of 0.85 MGD.

Project Elements

• Expanded headworks
• 280,000-gallon influent flow equalization
• Sequencing batch reactors
• Effluent filters
• 760KW emergency generator
• Underground fiber optic network
• IP based SCADA system
• 62,000-gallon effluent storage tank

CTI Services

• Program
• Schematic Phase
• Design Development
• Construction Documents
• Bidding
• Construction Phase Services
• Close-Out Phase Services