Wastewater Plant


Glenn Fraley, Sewer Department Superintendent
City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant

115 Blythes Ferry Road
Dayton, Tennessee 37321
Phone: (423) 775-8409

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Sewer Plant1
The City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant was designed and constructed in 1972 at a construction cost of $1,440,000.00. The final effluent was discharged into Richland Creek close to the Dayton Boat Dock. The plant originally consisted of preliminary treatment, secondary treatment, and tertiary treatment.

In 1984 the plant was up graded, tertiary treatment was removed, and a chlorine contact chamber was added in place of tertiary treatment to aid in disinfection of the treated effluent.

In 1988, the treatment plant was upgraded to its present design. The current design consists of Preliminary Treatment, Secondary Treatment, and chlorine disinfection. The outfall of the treated effluent was moved from Richland Creek to the Tennessee River.

Wastewater from the City of Dayton is transported to the treatment plant by the collection system or sewer lines. Two main lines enter the treatment plant; one is by forced main or pumped, and one is by gravity flow. These two lines enter the plant at the head works, the gravity line is lifted into the plant by 2 screw pumps that are approximately 43 feet long, the pumped or force main enters at the top of the screw pumps and are combined at that point. The wastewater starts its travel through the Preliminary Treatment at this point. All the wastewater then flows through a mechanical bar screen that removes all trash (paper products, plastic, wood, metal, etc.) from the wastewater. Then the flow goes through a Parshall Flume to meter the amount of wastewater entering the plant. From there the wastewater travels to a grit chamber where the flow is slowed down and aerated to remove all inorganic material from the wastewater. The inorganic material consist of egg shells, coffee grinds, dirt, sand and any other material that will settle out at this point. The inorganic material, along with the screenings from the bar screen is collected and disposed in the landfill. This ends the preliminary treatment stage.

The wastewater is then divided into two separate waste streams to begin the Secondary Treatment. The flow goes into two Aeration Basins to mix with the activated sludge process. This is the main treatment process of the treatment plant. Here the wastewater is mixed with natural bacteria, and single cell microorganisms to remove the dissolved solids and aid in the settling out of the organic solids. After mixing in the Aeration Basins, the activated sludge flows into two Final Clarifiers.

In the Final Clarifiers, the activated sludge settles and is collected by longitudinal scrapers and is either returned to the Aeration Basins as feeder material or wasted to the Aerobic Digesters for final treatment and disposal. The now clear/clean wastewater flows out of the Final Clarifiers and flows to the chlorine contact chamber for disinfection to remove the pathogenic organisms.

The Final/Treated Effluent is then returned to the environment by pumping the effluent to the Tennessee River.

The waste activated sludge or biosolids is treated in the Aerobic Digesters. Here microorganisms and bacteria further break down the waste. After treatment in the Aerobic Digesters, the sludge is dewatered, and disposed of in the landfill.

In 1995, the City of Dayton built a state of the art Laboratory Building at the wastewater treatment plant.wasterwater_lab More space was needed to insure the quality of the laboratory analysis performed at the plant. Every day the wastewater is monitored for quality of the effluent being discharged to the environment. Operational analyses are done daily, to assure that all treatment units are working at their maximum efficiency.

The City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant also implements and enforces the City of Dayton's Industrial Pretreatment Program. At this time, six industrial users are monitored by the program. For information concerning the Industrial Pretreatment Program, please contact Wastewater Treatment Superintendent/Pretreatment Coordinator, Glenn Fraley at 423/775-8409.

The City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant is staffed by four full time employees: Plant Superintendent, Lead Operator, Operator, and Laborer.

The City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant is classified as a class III treatment plant and is required to have at least one class III operator on staff. The City of Dayton is proud to have three Class IV operators on staff.

In addition, the City of Dayton Wastewater Treatment Plant is always happy to have groups to tour the treatment plant. Please contact us during office hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm to schedule your group tour.