The City of Noblesville recently released its year-end annual report. The report details major accomplishments from every city department and within the community during 2016, and each week, Current in Noblesville will be highlighting a portion of the report. This week, it’s utilities. To see the full report, visit bit.ly/2lDGclL.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Noblesville Utilities Wastewater Treatment Plant began construction in 1948 and was designed for flows up to 850,000 gallons per day. Today, the plant is designed for flows up to 10 million gallons per day. The city said Noblesville Utilities continues to implement the latest technology in the field, always searching for more economical and efficient ways to run the facility.
In 2016, Phase III Division III of the Long Term Control Plan was completed. Phase III had three divisions: Division I was the Maple Street Project, Division II was a 2.3 million gallon underground storage tank at the treatment plant and Division III being the 60-inch diameter Conveyance Sewer and Riverwalk Trail section. There are five total phases of the LTCP. In 2017, work will begin on Phase IV, along with a new Phosphorus Removal Project, which are all mandated by the federal government. These mandates are unfunded and place the burden of expense on the citizens of our community without cost assistance from the state or the federal government.
In 2016, Noblesville treated 2,111,890,000 gallons of water, 5.786 gallons each day. Noblesville Utilities maintains 480.6 miles of sewer pipe, enough to stretch from the city to Washington, D.C.
TREATMENT PLANT
The treatment plant had a staff of 11 employees in 2016. Of these workers, one is the plant chief operator, one is dedicated to grease and oil trap inspections at businesses, two are dedicated to the laboratory and two are responsible for grounds, recycling and housekeeping as well as the biosolids operation. Five employees are dedicated to monitoring alarms and all maintenance needed around the plant and lift stations. Maintenance operators are one of the few wastewater groups of staff that perform nearly all of the maintenance tasks in-house, such as pump rebuilds and troubleshooting complex electrical panels.
