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Livingston water reclamation plant back to two basins after year‑long repairs and emergency fixes
Summary
After a basin failure last October, city crews and contractors completed repairs and cleaning at the wastewater treatment plant; staff say both biological treatment basins are now operational and discharge permits are being met.
The Livingston water reclamation facility experienced a major mechanical failure last October and staff worked for much of the ensuing year to repair and restart biological treatment basins, Water Reclamation Facility Superintendent Trace Tidwell told the commission in a technical briefing.
“We had the initial failure back when we had the initial failure based in 2,” Tidwell said, recounting the chain of events. He described an early‑November structural failure on one basin and an emerging, similar failure on the second basin that city staff worked to prevent from becoming catastrophic.
City staff said they limped the plant along in single‑basin operation while ordering parts, coordinating contractors and sourcing components from overseas and domestic suppliers. Tidwell described interim workarounds used to keep the plant in regulatory compliance, including lowering a transfer pump to provide mixing while repairs were made.
The plant went through a multi‑stage repair, which included removal and replacement of a failed mixer mid‑mount, cleaning out heavy solids and replacing worn membrane diffusers. Tidewell told the commission that the repair work included replacing about 2,600 diffuser heads and removing accumulated sludge from the bottom of the basin. He said the new mid‑mounts were built to a higher safety margin and that the city performed additional preventative maintenance while the basin was down.
Tidwell said the initial incident and subsequent repair activity required months of planning and parts procurement; he estimated the period from the initial failure to returning the basin online was roughly October through the following April. He told commissioners that, “we were able to jump into overdrive” to prevent the second basin’s failure from becoming catastrophic and to complete the clean‑and‑repair work. He closed his update with: “So that is the failures and repairs and where the wastewater plant is at currently. Two healthy basins fully operational.”
City staff said most repairs were completed in‑house with contractor support and that overall maintenance work has helped the city determine future seven‑year maintenance costs; they flagged a mid‑term plan to schedule regular basin maintenance going forward.
Commissioners praised the plant crew’s work and the report emphasized that the city met effluent discharge permit obligations during repairs. Trace Tidwell and other plant operators attended the meeting and fielded technical questions from commissioners about membrane leaks, aeration piping and restoration of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) levels. Tidwell reported current MLSS values near 2,800–3,000 in the restarted basins, and he said the plant is performing to permit requirements.
Ending: The city reports the water reclamation facility is now operating on both basins after extensive repairs; staff said they will continue preventative maintenance under a planned seven‑year cycle and will seek to schedule future maintenance to minimize impacts on the community and permit compliance.
