NPDES Permit Number NC0024236
The Johnnie Mosley Regional Water Reclamation Facility plant is a fully automated treatment facility for the 21st century. Wastewater treatment has truly become state of the art. Its primary goal is to remove nutrients that causes oxygen depletion in the Neuse River. New modifications have been added to improve water quality and meet future discharge limits. These new modifications include computers that monitor and control all aspects of treatment for more efficient operations. Other modifications include denitrification filters and ultraviolet disinfection (UV).
Deintrification Filter
The denitrification filter is a deep sand filter bed. As water passes through the filter, particulate matter is trapped into the sand. The cleaner water is then discharged to the disinfection process. An added benefit to this system is that we can add a food source for the remaining bacteria that will cause them to use the chemical oxygen found in the nitrates of the effluent water. Once the chemical oxygen has been used, only pure nitrogen remains which bubbles off harmlessly into the air, thus preventing more nitrogen from entering into the Neuse River.
Ultraviolet Disinfection
The final treatment process is the disinfection of the plant effluent. The old disinfection process used gaseous chlorine to kill pathogenic organisms. This is a proven and very effective method of disinfection. The problem is that Chlorine has also been proven to be toxic to aquatic life, and will combine with other organic material to form compounds that have been shown to cause cancer. Because of this, more chemicals are added to remove any remaining chlorine after the disinfection process has been completed. The new plant has the ability to use ultra-violet light (UV). UV is a non-chemical process that prevents the bacteria from reproducing instead of actually killing the bacteria. This saves on chemical costs and prevents further damage to the environment.
Irrigation Demonstration
A spray irrigation demonstration was just recently added to the project. The demonstration calls for spraying effluent onto a ten acre site which is to be planted with sycamore trees. This will further reduce the amount of nitrogen and other nutrients from entering the river. The City has purchased approximately 70 more acres for the same purpose. As an added benefit, these trees can be harvested for chip-wood products once they have matured.