Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Plant - Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member 401Photos
N 42° 00.096 W 071° 29.722
19T E 293337 N 4652966
The Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility is responsible for a wastewater collection system and regional treatment facility that also accepts flow from the neighboring communities of Bellingham and Blackstone, MA, and N. Smithfield, RI.
Waymark Code: WM1640K
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 04/29/2022
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member bluesnote
Views: 0
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The Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Plant is at 11 Cumberland Hill Road in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

"The City of Woonsocket’s existing separated sanitary sewerage system conveying flow from the City of Woonsocket and four adjacent communities Bellingham, Blackstone, North Smithfield to a regional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)located along the Blackstone River. The first City’s sewer system was constructed primarily in 1897 consisting primarily of vitrified clay (VC) pipe with 2 to 3 foot joint spacing.

The first upgrade took place in 1932 followed by another upgrade in 1962. The plant was upgraded from primary treatment to secondary treatment in 1977 and again in year 2000.

THE CITY SEWER SYSTEM:
The sewer system consists of approximately 111 miles or over 600,120 feet of gravity sewers. The sewer pipes range in size from 6 inch diameter collector pipes to 60 inch diameter interceptor pipe.

The City’s Sewer System area contains 18 pumping stations and 13 inverted siphons. Seven of these stations are owned by the City; with one being owned by the Town of Bellingham and 11 stations/grinder pumps are privately owned. The City’s Sewer System also has over 3,400 manholes.

The Town of Bellingham has a pump station and force main that feeds the Bellingham Interceptor conveying flow to the City’s WWTP.

The Town of Blackstone has two connection locations, one on Rathbun Street and one on Canal Street. The Town of North Smithfield also has two connections to the Woonsocket sewer system; one on Elizabeth Avenue and the other on Alice Avenue. The total length of sewer laterals and number of connections within North Smithfield, Cumberland, Bellingham and Blackstone has not been determined.

In 1988 the City of Woonsocket entered into an agreement with Synagro to operate and maintain solids handling and the incineration part of the facility. The agreement with Synagro saves the City over 2 million dollars annually. In year 1999 the City of Woonsocket entered into an agreement with Veolia Water NA to operate and maintain the Wastewater plant.

The City entered into an agreement with CH2M Hill to Design, Build and Operate the new upgrade to meet permit limitation for total nitrogen and total phosphorous by 2017." (Wastewater Plant Information)

Sources:

Coordinates are at viewing area from closest spot on Cumberland Hill Road sidewalk.

What is the capacity of the facility?: 16 mgd (maximum month): 24 mgd (maximum day) and 32 mgd (peak hour)

Describe the biological treatment technology used.:
"Wastewater enters the WWTF through three main gravity sewers; a 60-inch low level interceptor, a 24-inch high level interceptor, and an 18-inch industrial interceptor. These three sewer lines discharge into the influent structures at the head of the facility, where the wastewater receives preliminary screening. Septage is discharged into the high level interceptor in a manhole just before the influent structure. All of the wastewater that enters the WWTF passes through a coarse mechanically cleaned bar screen to remove any large solids or debris that would clog pumps or piping before entering the wetwell. There were formerly two comminutors following the mechanical bar screen, but they have been removed.

There are two raw influent wet wells located in the basements of the Operation and Administration Buildings, and separate pump rooms associated with each. The raw influent passes through screening to the Operations Building Wetwell. Recycle flows are discharged directly to the Wetwell in the Administration Building. The wet wells are hydraulically connected via a 30-inch ductile iron pipe. There are five existing raw influent pumps, three in the Operations Building pump room and two in the Administration Building pump room. Four of the pumps have 8-mgd capacity and one has an upgraded impeller to provide 10-mgd capacity. This provides 32-mgd of firm capacity with one pump as standby, and a total of 42- mgd with all units on-line.

The wastewater is pumped from the wet wells to the aerated grit removal system which removes any heavy abrasive material such as sand from the wastewater. Operators have the ability to add ferric chloride and polymer to the wastewater at the aerated grit chamber to provide chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), ferric alone to enhance phosphorus removal, and lime for alkalinity addition, which has the ability to promote biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the secondary system. The pretreated wastewater then flows by gravity to either of two primary clarifiers. The primary clarifiers further reduce solids in the wastewater, where typically about 75 percent of suspended solids and 40 percent of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) are removed. The solids are removed from the bottom of the settling tank by a scraper and pump system. Oil and grease tend to float to the top of the tank as scum, where the surface of the water inside of the baffle is cleaned by a surface skimmer. The skimmer pushes the scum from the surface into a small trough. Scum from both the aerated grit chambers and primary clarifiers is collected in the scum well at the Primary Sludge Pumping Station and pumped to the Sludge Storage Tank..."

(Continues -- See: Woonsocket, RI WWTF Section 1 Final Facility Plan Amendment – March 2011, REV May 2013, pp. 1-4 - 1-10



How are biosolids (sludge) managed?: Primary and secondary (waste activated) sludge is pumped to a gravity thickener. Synagro Technologies, Inc (Synagro) operates and maintains the sludge thickening, storage, and dewatering facilities through a long-term agreement with the City of Woonsocket

What technology is used for disinfection prior to dicharge of treated water?: Sodium Hypochlorite, Sodium Bisulfate, Ferric Chloride, Lime, Defoamer

Who is the owner/operator fo the facility?: Owner: City of Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Operators: Synagro and Veolia Water NA

How is the facility governed?: "The director of public works of the city is hereby authorized to prepare rates, rules and regulations for the waterworks division of the public works department for the purpose of standardizing service, maintenance and repairs, extensions and renewals...

What is the website of the WWTP?: [Web Link]
Visit Instructions:
Please post at least 2 original photographs of the site. We would much rather see photos of the plant itself as opposed to the front office, but we also understand that security and site layout may limit your opportunities.
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