Dear Editor: The Rockdale County Quigg wastewater treatment facility, which ESG Operations staffs under contractual agreement, serves an important role for the public by providing proper treatment and disposal of domestic and industrial wastewater and the associated bio-solids. Bio-solids are biological and inert wastes that remain after removal from wastewater.
Unfortunately, during the treatment of these wastewater streams, odor generation is an undesired outcome. All wastewater treatment facilities produce a certain amount of odor, which is normally not offensive. The Quigg plant management's goal is to operate the plant so that odors are not offensive and kept to a minimum. To do this, the unit operations that provide treatment, as well as offensive odors, may be covered or housed to capture, treat and eliminate them.
Recently, residents living near the Quigg facility began to complain of an offensive odor coming from the plant. Initially, plant management and staff were unable to determine the odor's origin and therefore, implemented numerous searches and operational changes within the treatment process to determine the source and modify the offending unit, but none of the initiatives taken were successful. Yet, with the help of several local residents, the odor's source thankfully was identified and staff's attention was shifted to odor containment and treatment.
Odor containment and treatment requires developing a plan to cover the offending unit. The structure will have an air removal system that will be connected to an on-site scrubbing unit designed to remove industrial strength odors. ESG Operations and engineering staff will perform a majority of the work.
The time associated with the County procurement process and actual project construction will require around 3- 4 months for project completion with an estimated cost of up to $40,000.
Rockdale Water Resources will continue to keep the public apprised of the progress we make on this important project.
Dwight S. Wick
Rockdale Water Resources Director,
Rockdale resident
