The Town of Bargersville’s discharge permit was revised to include a 1.0 mg/L total phosphorus limit. In addition to this new phosphorus limit, development in town was projected to soon increase flows to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to the point of exceeding the rated capacity of the plant and, thereby, limit the Town’s potential for any future development.

We designed upgrades to the Town’s WWTP to increase capacity and provide phosphorus removal. Improvements to the WWTP include new anaerobic selector tanks to promote biological phosphorus removal (BPR), increased operational and treatment flexibility in the existing oxidation ditches with the addition of sensors and submersible mixers, new secondary clarifiers to increase the overall capacity of the WWTP and aid in phosphorus removal, new return-and waste-activated sludge pumps, new belt filter presses, and additional liquid sludge storage. Additionally, chemical phosphorus removal (CPR) equipment was designed to provide protection against WWTP upsets and chemical polishing, if needed to meet discharge limits. These modifications provided the Town with enough capacity to serve the 20-year flow projections and provide the WWTP operators with a plant that has the operational flexibility to meet all foreseen future nutrient limits.

2021 ACEC Indiana Engineering Excellence Honor Award Winner