City of Sand Springs unveils new state of the art Wastewater Treatment Facility

The City of Sand Springs held a grand opening and ribbon cutting at their new Wastewater Treatment Facility Wednesday morning.

The new $17.2M project was placed into service earlier this summer. The plant is capable of treating 3.1 million gallons/day (MGD) and could be expanded in the future to handle approximately 5MGD. The water facility replaces a much older site, which has since been demolished after serving citizens needs for more than 30 years. One of the primary benefits of Sand Springs’ new facility is the plant’s ability to manage a much broader array of wastewater treatment challenges faced by all municipal water managers.

“This new plant already has some capacity to handle additional gallons per day, beyond our current demand,” stated Derek Campbell, City Engineer. “We’re pleased to be able to bring this new facility online because it also provides us with a much broader ability to treat water chemistry challenges faced by our previous plant.”

With the new plant design the treatment of wastewater was changed from a rotating biological contactor (RBC) process to an activated sludge process. Updates were also made to improve the disinfection process. Additional screening and grit removal equipment were included in the facility’s design, further improving this plant from the previous one.

The overall project includes aerobic digester improvements, a disinfection system using sodium hypochlorite and sodium bisulfite, disinfection contact basins, aeration blowers, sludge dewatering improvements, backup diesel and natural gas generators as well as new administration and chemical buildings.

City Manager Elizabeth Gray says this massive project is yet another example of the public investments happening now in the Sand Springs community.

“This plant represents our City Council and staff’s strong commitment to managing our wastewater collection and treatment system and finding the economic strategies to help make projects like this happen,” stated Gray. “We’ve invested in our parks, public safety and streets. We’re pleased to say that our new plant is online and ready to serve the community for many years to come.”

“We’ve been doing the right things for a long time and we’re finally starting to see results,” said Mayor Mike Burdge. “We have a history of insightful and forward thinking people in Sand Springs.”

The design phase began in 2013 to accommodate projected growth and increased environmental regulations through the next twenty years. Walters-Morgan Construction was awarded the contract in January of 2014 with Tetra Tech as the consulting engineers.

“Water and wastewater workers are the unsung heroes of City Government,” said Gray. “It’s been thirty years since Sand Springs made such a large investment in water or wastewater.”