Updated January 20 2022 at 10:15 a.m.
Akron has brought online a groundbreaking 65-million dollar water treatment facility intended to cut down on the amount of untreated waste ending up in the Cuyahoga River.
The new BioCEPT water reclamation facility eliminates all nutrients from the sewage it treats that would otherwise end up in the river. The chemicals and organic material left behind in the sludge are then converted into biosolids that can be reused to power the facility.
It’s among two-dozen projects in Akron’s federal consent decree with the U.S. E.P.A. to significantly reduce the amount of untreated sewage ending up in the Cuyahoga River.
Pat Gsellman is the program manager for Akron Waterways Renewed which oversaw the project.
“It’s very normal to have higher capacity of that primary treatment than the secondary, but in Akron’s case now we provide 100 % of that treatment which obviously is tremendous benefit to the Cuyahoga River.”
The new facility can treat around 280 million gallons of wastewater per day during wet weather periods. It will remain offline outside of those periods which will save costs on the chemicals used in treating the water.
This means that during these peak flows from rain or snow melt, the facility will serve around 340,000 residents in Akron and some surrounding suburbs that are contracted to this facility.
Gsellman said the technology used in this facility will help keep sewer rates in the area significantly lower for the next several years and could soon be implemented at other water treatment facilities nationwide.
