Taunton Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrade

BETA has planned and designed improvements to the City of Taunton’s Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) that will address new requirements imposed by the NPDES permit issued in April 2015 by the USEPA and MassDEP. The permit limits the amount of nitrogen that can be discharged to the Taunton River to 210 lb/d and requires the abatement of the one Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) in the City.

To abate the CSO, the peak hydraulic capacity of the WWTF was increased to 25 MGD to match the peak output from the new Main Lift Pumping Station, which was also designed by BETA. To achieve nitrogen removal, BETA designed a new 4-stage biological reactor to replace an existing conventional activated sludge process. The reactor, which is divided into two treatment trains, has an overall footprint of 300-feet-long by 125-feet-wide with a sidewater depth of 18 feet. Other major improvements to the WWTF included:

• A new Headworks facility with screenings and aerated grit removal
• A fourth primary clarifier
• Modifications to the former sludge landfill to accommodate the new biological reactor
• A secondary anoxic tank (120 feet x 30 feet x 15 feet SWD)
• A new building to house four 200 HP blowers
• Upgrades to four existing secondary clarifiers
• Expansion of the chlorine contact tanks
• Upgrades to the solids handling process, including two new centrifuges and rehabilitation of two gravity thickener
• A new SCADA system including a new control room
• Improvements to the existing administration building

Construction of the noted improvements, which was divided into three phases, is expected to be completed in December 2024.