CIA Engineers has an important role on a team led by Brown and Caldwell to provide optimization projects for Metro Nashville/ Davidson County’s Central wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located near downtown Nashville. Included under this contract are the following objectives: to maximize process capacity, eliminate hydraulic bottlenecks, optimize plant operations, determine best disinfection alternative, identify feasible wet weather treatment alternatives, and investigate refurbishment and replacement opportunities.

A key component to the optimization is gaining a full understanding of the WWTP’s capacities and performance. To gain this understanding, the team will use a combination of computer modeling, field testing, and bench-scale testing.

Tasks included in the optimization process are:

• Evaluation of wastewater flows
• Evaluation of wastewater loads
• Plant hydraulic evaluation
• Biological process evaluation
• Capacity assessment
• Wet weather flow treatment
• Analysis of disinfection system
• Design of sludge screens
• Development of cost estimates
• Plant operations review
• Plant optimization report
• Stormwater drainage improvements
• Air permit reporting

CIA Engineers’ primary tasks on this project are the design of sludge screens and the design to reroute the stormwater systems that are contaminated by wastewater back to the headworks of the wastewater treatment plant.