Two towns, two solutions—one technology. MBR/retrofit: Star,
Idaho - Population: 2000 - Plant size: 0.8 mgd with a peak flow
of 1.2 mgd - Cost: $5.2 million MBR/new construction: Delphos,
Ohio - Population: 7000 - Plant size: 3.83 mgd with a peak flow
of 12 mgd - Cost: $32 million Although they're half a continent
apart and have never spoken, wastewater operators Hank Day and
Kim Riddell solved very different treatment issues using the
same technology. Day's issue is growth. He's maintenance and
operations foreman for the sewer and water district of Star,
Idaho, where 20 separate housing developments are crowding his
5-acre treatment plant and have filled his three lagoons to
capacity. When he joined the utility a decade ago, the city had
5 miles of sewer line. By the end of this year it will have 24.
He had to find a way to treat more wastewater in the same amount
of space. Riddell's problem is regulatory. Just before she
became water superintendent for Delphos, Ohio, in 2002, the Ohio
Environmental Protecti