Civil Engineering Students Trip to Springfield Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility

On Friday, September 15, twelve students from the Water Quality Engineering Laboratory spent six hours at the Springfield Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility conducting settling tests and performing calculations to evaluate the facility's clarifier (settling tank) capacity.  The Springfield sewer collection system combines street drainage and domestic sewage so that flow through the treatment plant can increase by six-fold in a very short time period during rain events.  Operators need to understand how their clarifiers will perform so that they can prevent solids from washing out of the plant to the Connecticut River during these high-flow events.

 

Two professional engineers from Woodard & Curran who specialize in wastewater treatment plant design and troubleshooting trained the group in how to perform the tests and analyze the results.  Professors Brown and Dean Pines accompanied the group.  Suez NA, operators of the plant, hosted the event.

 

Later in the semester, three-person teams from this group will visit four other wastewater treatment plants in CT and MA to perform similar tests, providing a free service to wastewater treatment plants while demonstrating the University's commitment to partnering with outside entities to maximize the career, entrepreneurial, and intellectual preparedness of students.

 

Students that attended:

Michael Albanese

Aly Ali

Ali Alrayshan

Joseph Beauchesne

Katherine Bednarz

Ian Downey

Fation Misku

Matthew Murphy

Samantha Nyser

Adam Pasternack

Sarah Socolosky

Elijah Stewart