Sewage Facilities Improvements, East Berlin Area Joint Authority, PA

East Berlin Area Joint Authority

BH provided design of the expansion of the Borough’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to a 0.243 MGD capacity and constructed two interceptors.

The WWTP was a new facility on an existing site and includes two new sequencing batch reactor (SBR) tanks and associated equipment, two aerobic digester tanks, and an operations building to house the influent pump station, blowers, piping and valving, ultraviolet disinfection (UV) system, ferric chloride system, and electrical equipment and controls. The SBR and digester tanks are rectangular, common-wall concrete construction, and include diffused aeration. The ground-level rear wall of the new 95-foot by 35-foot operations building abuts the SBR and digester tanks. The new facility provides biological nutrient removal.

The new WWTP consists of two SBR tanks discharging directly to a new 3.6 MGD UV disinfection system. The UV disinfection system is housed in the SBR control building and consists of one UV channel having two banks of low pressure, high intensity self-cleaning UV bulbs. Fiberglass troughs are used to control the water level over the UV bulbs. Effluent from the UV system is discharged to a post-aeration cascade.

The new 2,000-foot Water Street Interceptor provides relief for the existing interceptor and allows for the additional connections by extending from the intersection of SR 234 and SR 194 to the treatment plant. The new 4,000-foot Northwest Trunk Sewer allowed elimination of the 50-year-old West King Street Pump Station and provides service to several nearby previously unsewered homes.

BH assisted in coordinating with a developer and a neighboring Township to establish a Joint Authority, negotiate multiple rights-of-way, and obtain permits from government agencies for highway occupancy, wetlands, and sewer facility construction.