Spring Branch WWTP Phosphorus Reduction Plan

Sussex Service Authority, Waverly, Virginia, owns and operates the Spring Branch Wastewater Treatment Facility in Waverly, Virginia. The facility is a 0.90 MGD sequential batch reactor. The facility is under a Consent Order for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to limit effluent phosphorus. The effluent limit for phosphorus is based on the capacity of Spring Branch to assimilate phosphorus.
The Consent Order required the Authority to prepare a long-term plan to reduce effluent phosphorus. REI collected and analyzed the process design and historical effluent data.  REI prepared a long-term plan that involved the addition of ferric sulfate to the activated sludge treatment process. Ferric sulfate increases the potential for adsorption of the phosphorus, allowing it to precipitate with a heavier sludge floc.
Secondary to the chemical addition, REI examined the Authority’s collection and pumping system design. From that analysis, REI developed a future plan for transfer of the raw sewage from the Spring Branch service area to the Authority’s Black Swamp Facility several miles to the north.
To date, the plan has been successful with the chemical feed keeping the phosphorus load to Spring Branch in check and below the Consent Order limits.