Greenfield's Water Pollution Control Plant

Last night, Greenfield's Department of Public Works Director, Sandy Shields, sent out this press release concerning the flood ravaged water pollution control plant. It's important to note that this plant has been separated from the town's water supply and our drinking water is completely safe.

PRESS RELEASE:
By 7:00 am 8/30/11 the flood water had receded from around the Town’s Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) on Deerfield Street to levels that allowed operators to return to the main building to begin restoration of the extensively damaged facility. The facility contains four stories. It was designed to withstand 100 yr flood levels of 140 ft above sea level. The level after Sunday’s storm was 142.5 ft. The bottom two stories, which contain the major pumping equipment were inundated and over 30 inches of flood water was on the main floor of the building. This floor houses the process control center, laboratory, offices etc.

Upon entry the operators immediately began restoration of most essential infrastructure. Power has been restored to selected areas of the facility as safety allowed. By noon Tuesday a bar screen which removes rags, large debris, feminine hygiene products etc, was functioning and two primary settling tanks were back on line. All of this equipment had been completely submerged in the flood. Also by noon, sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) was being applied to flow entering the plant. This is a very significant accomplishment since the chlorine is a disinfectant that will greatly decrease bacterial levels in the water entering the Green and Deerfield Rivers. This level of treatment is referred to as “primary treatment” which removes 50-60% of incoming pollutants. Full secondary treatment will take up to eight weeks because of the extensive damage to the main building.

The other major accomplishment was that MEMA brought in a pump with a 6” suction line that removed most of the flood water from the bottom two floors of the building. This will allow access for restoration work to continue.
END OF PRESS RELEASE

The DPW kindly provided us with these photos, taken by Facilities Superintendent Chris Bassett, of the flooded plant:







By the way, we're putting together a short piece about our local water supply to help everyone understand exactly where our water comes from and what does, and does not, affect it. Look for that video on our homepage either Friday or Monday.