Learning how to curtail phosphorus
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A pilot project pointed the way for full-scale treatment of phosphorus at Metro
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When the Amended Consent Judgment was drafted, the Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant (Metro) was
considered to be a major source of phosphorus to
Onondaga Lake.
The Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection (WEP) implemented a $1.9 million pilot
project in 2000completed 6 years ahead of scheduleto
evaluate six different phosphorus treatment
technologies in anticipation of building new
facilities to reduce phosphorus in its effluent.
The pilot project concluded that high-rate
flocculated settling (HRFS) could reduce phosphorus in
Metro's discharge to extraordinarily low levels (0.12
mg/L as a 12-month rolling average). On the basis of
this work, WEP decided to use HRFS to meet New York State effluent
requirements.
The pilot project also provided a basis of design for
the full-scale phosphorus
treatment facility that WEP completed in 2004.
The HRFS technology probably can achieve lower limits
than Onondaga County currently must meet. Moreover, because
of the high efficiency of the HRFS system, WEP has
projected significant savings over traditional filter
technologies.
By 2012 Onondaga County must reduce the phosphorus
discharges to 0.02 mg/L, the most restrictive in the
U.S. and perhaps in the world. To meet such a low
limit, the County is again testing technologies.
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