New Study Begins at Waste Water Treatment Plant

City of Lakewood officials are looking to increase capacity at the Lakewood wastewater treatment facility to treat a higher volume of flows during rain events.

Lakewood’s combined sewers are designed to take all wastewater to the treatment plant, which can process a maximum hydraulic volume of 40 million gallons per day. However, during storms, the volume of rainwater entering the combined sewer system can exceed both the capacity of the combined sewers and the treatment plant, leading to overflows into Lake Erie and Rocky River.

Working to protect the city’s water resources, Lakewood has implemented a pilot study of a high-rate treatment system. The high-rate system would be activated during storms when flows exceed treatment plant capacities. The high-rate system would reduce the quantity of untreated water being discharged to the river and lake.

The City of Lakewood selected Veolia’s Actiflo, with technology that separates solids out of high volumes of water and settles them quickly into a sludge that can be properly disposed of.

If the pilot study is successful at cleaning Lakewood’s wet weather flows to meet permit requirements, the system may be phased into the treatment plant in the next five years.

“Our goal is to decrease overflows that occur into the river and lake,” said William Crute, division manager of the Lakewood Waste Water Treatment Plant. “This may be the most cost effective solution, as we look to stretch our treatment dollars while dramatically reducing pollution levels and achieving better water quality.”

This pilot study is in a self-contained trailer that will be stationed on treatment plant grounds during the month of June for testing.