Boyd helps turn sewage into river water
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Hidden behind public housing on Cope Street, one would never guess almost 2 million gallons of treated wastewater are processed there on a daily basis. It wasn’t always the case, but these days, supervisors say a new system practically eliminates most odors.
That’s a good thing when you spend a lot of time there, as do seven city employees who work to ensure the facility runs shipshape every day. One such employee, plant operator Wayne Boyd, has spent almost 10 of his 16 years as a city employee at the plant.
Boyd says the wastewater plant is something most people don’t think about, but there is a simple answer to the question of where everything goes when flushed.
From residential pipes, raw sewage travels to the city’s main sewer pipe. Using gravity and pumping stations, the waste ends up at the plant, where it goes through various chemical and biological processes before clean water suitable for fish to swim in is emptied back into the Barren Fork River.
The process begins at an aeration basin. Waste then travels to clarifiers, where solids are settled at the bottom and saved for recycling, as the solids are eventually spread out upon approved farming fields, and the waste is pumped out to digesters.
The waste makes contact with what is essentially bleach and then goes into a final tank, where sulfur dioxide is mixed in to kill the chlorine. The last step is a step aeration process, which gives it oxygen, before it can be put back into the river.
Boyd’s main job is to keep on eye on things and make sure everything is happening the way it is supposed to operate. He also answers service calls during evenings if city’s sewer pipe gets backed up and acts as a backup for the water maintenance department for water complaints.
Working second shift keeps him busy, since most people are getting off work and noticing problems in the afternoons and evenings.
The best part about his job, he said, is never knowing what to expect.
“You have a good idea of what you will be doing, but they may call you with half the town out of water, which has happened before, or you might just be here working and making sure everything is running smoothly,” he said.
The worst is having to tell someone they will have to call a plumber. The city is only responsible for their pipes, not the service lines inside the house.
While dealing with an unhappy person can be troublesome, it is evident the workers at the plant take pride in their jobs.
“It’s clean,” Boyd said of the treated water coming from the plant. “It’s as clean as the river water. We run tests every day to make sure of that and the state inspects us every year.”