Pell City Water Waste management has received a good annual report.

“The MWPP was outstanding. That’s basically our report card for the waste water treatment plant,” said Brian Muenger, city manager at the council meeting last Monday night.

Utilities Manager James Hadaway said overall, average flows were down. The plant operated well below its permitted limits, which means the plant wasn’t and likely isn’t going to be overwhelmed if there were to be a mass influx of waste water.

“The bottom line is we’re running a fraction of our reliable discharge. We had no inflow induced overflows and the plant got, probably, its best score ever,” said Muenger.

The plant received a daily average flow rate of 1.681, which is the lowest rate of the past five years. It is 10% below the four yearly average.

Hadaway also emphasized that the plant was able to successfully fix “several hundred” problems over the past year.

“We have a certain amount of suspended solids coming in and we have to meet a certain amount of removal and we’re always in the 90-percentile range, which is our permit is 85,” said Hadaway.

Since upgrading in 2014, Muenger said the plant has always stayed well below limits. The plant was built in 1983 and has been upgraded and extended several times. 

The plant has a big hydraulic capacity and huge amounts of inflow and infiltration. Muenger said much of the success of the plant has been from repairs being made efficiently.

“Everything is in a perpetual state of decline, so the things these guys are finding out there and repairing, that’s what enables the plant to work well,” said Muenger.

Because of Pell City’s ability to accept stronger discharge of waste water, Muenger said it does a lot to bring in new business.

“You can’t get behind on these things and I appreciate what our operators and James Hadaway do a great deal, and I appreciate the council supporting their work because it’s not something people love to talk about. It’s not as flashy as some of the things people want to talk about, but when it’s not going right, I assure you people will be very anxious to make sure these things get fixed overnight,”

The council also approved the purchase of a gear reducer for the plant.