Georgia City Basin to Help With Storm Water
The Valdosta City Council held a special called meeting to consider a bid for a secondary equalization basin at the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant.
This bid is for $1.789 million to be completed by Reynolds Construction, reported Valdosta Daily Times. This is less than the $2.1 million budgeted for the project.
"They are basically holding tanks we have out there for heavy rain events," said Mark Barber, Valdosta city manager.
The move for another storage basin occurred after 16 inches of rain in December 2018 overflowed the 33 million gallon storage, causing a series of sewage discharges. It was originally planned to be a 10 million gallon reservoir, but the water table only allowed employees to dig deep enough for 7.2 million gallons.
The normal flow from the Withlacoochee River through the treatment plant is 3 million to 4 million gallons daily, Barber said.
Valdosta also experienced a 7.5 million gallon sewage spill in December 2019, due to failure to reconnect a sensor in the treatment plant. The new basin will add 7.2 million gallons of capacity, reported the Valdosta Daily Times.
According to the city manager, the city has improved inflow with storm drains about 25%.
"We do feel comfortable that the 7.2 million gallons, the supplemental holding area, will be sufficient as well,” said Barber. "So you've got less spill water and more capacity, you're really heading in the right direction with stopping the kinds of spills at the plant itself.”
