Muskegon Wastewater Treatment Facility

Muskegon County Wastewater Management System MCWMS

Location The facility is located east of Muskegon, just north of Apple Ave (M 46).

“land application treatment system” This system uses the land (crops) to help filter and purify the water before returning it to the environment.

Facility can be seen from space The MCWMS can treat up to 42 million gallons of waste per day on a site covering approximately 11,000 acres.

The first step in wastewater treatment is to collect the water and transport it to a single location.

Most city lines go to pump Station “C” These are the pipes under Marquette Ave. – each one is 60” in diameter.

Lift Station “C” has some huge pumps These pumps, together, move, on the average 25 million gallons of water each day. Each pump is 1250 hp. There are 4 pumps that work together at Lift Station “C”. They push the water 9 miles out to the MCWMS.

Each pipe is 66 feet long

Next step… odor control After getting the water to one location, As the water flows into a chamber under this pre-aeration building , mixers stir the water and blowers remove the air above the water….

Pre-aeration helps odor control Blowers remove the air above the water. This air is then moved through a pipe and under a sand bed where the odors are removed by the sand.

Pre-aeration pump

Treatment Cells 4 This aerial view shows the four treatment cells. From the bottom of the picture they are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4. 3 2 1 Preaeration pump.

Lagoons 1 & 2 = Aerators As the water leaves the pre-aeration chamber, it flows into either cell 1 or cell 2. These cells contain 18 each full mix aerators – mix from top to bottom. The purpose of these aerators is to introduce oxygen from the air into the water so that aerobic or oxygen loving bacteria will thrive in the water. These bacteria use the waste materials as their food source and clean the water.

Lagoons 1 & 2 = Aerators As the water leaves the pre-aeration chamber, it flows into either cell 1 or cell 2. These cells contain 18 each full mix aerators – mix from top to bottom. At the same time, accumulated bacteria and solid materials such as sand or paper fibers are kept in suspension, so they do not settle to the bottom of the cell.

Gravity = no energy needed Water moves from one treatment cell to the next by gravity. These cells are about 14 feet deep. video

Full-mix aerator lagoons

Aerated settling lagoons (#3 & #4) These are 20 acres each and hold about 100 million gallons each. At current flow rates, the water on average spends 4 days in this cell.

Aerated settling lagoons (#3 & #4) At this point, fast mixers – at the surface only - continue the aeration process to keep the water aerobic. At the same time, the solid materials that might remain in the water are allowed to settle.

Aerated settling lagoons

Hauled waste is deposited here, after being weighed A truck on the scales. This is done before and after dumping. Up to 3 millions gallons are deposited each month.

Settled sludge needs to be removed After a year or two, water is removed from the aerated settling lagoon and the sludge is pumped to adjacent sand beds for drying. Dried sludge is trucked to the landfill, or to the soil for fertilizer.

Storage Lagoons

Storage lagoons

Storage Lagoons These lagoons are 850 acres each and together are the third largest body of water in Muskegon County (note Wolf Lake in the background). Water is stored in these lagoons for later irrigation.

Interception ditches Because the lagoons and treatment cells are not lined, some seepage through the bottom occurs. This seepage water is captured by a deep ditch dug into the water table.

Interception ditches

Seepage water recovered in the ditches and filtered by the sand beds (sand pits)

Interception ditches

Ferric chloride into the ditch to control the phosphorus Ferric Chloride is metered into the ditch water to help remove phosphorus. The Ferric Phosphate that is formed is not water soluble.   Water with the ferric chloride floods across a basin then filters down through the soil. The phosphate remains on the soil.

Pumping the water out of the storage lagoon The storage lagoon water is pumped by three different pumping stations to the irrigation system.

Irrigation Center pivot irrigation rigs distribute the water to the fields. These are either electrically or hydraulically driven and make a circle in about one day.

Each irrigation rig is run as much as practical to remove as much water from the storage lagoon as possible before freezing weather.

This aerial view shows most of the system, with our lagoons, 53 center pivot irrigation rigs. The system encompasses 11,000 acres (17 square miles) with 5200 acres of irrigated crop land. Note Muskegon and Mona lakes as well as Lake Michigan in the background.

About 1700 acres of corn is grown, along with 1300 acres of soybean, and 2100 acres of alfalfa.

A large farm requires large equipment.

A large farm requires large equipment.

The crop helps clean the water as it passes through the soil. Biofiltration = using organisms to remove some of the nutrients from the water

The grain center and scales. Crop is weighed, dried and stored The grain center and scales. Crop is weighed, dried and stored. The crop is sold on the open market, with revenues used to help keep the cost of cleaning water low.

Drain tiles are buried under the crop fields to collect the water after irrigation.

The drain tile is laid by machines such as this.

The lines running through the crop circles represent the main drain lines. There are about 200 mile of under-drains on site. These drains lead to ditches for clean water discharge

Along the way, the water is continually tested for bacteria and other pathogens Nutrient fecal coliform test

Along the way, the water is continually tested for bacteria and other pathogens Here are a couple of the machines used to analyze the water.

The MCWMS is used by other groups as well…

The MCWMS is used by other groups as well…

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

There is a wide diversity of wildlife

The End