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Water‑reclamation basins repaired after failures; both basins back online, superintendent says
Summary
Officials said two biological basins at the city's wastewater plant failed last year; operators and contractors completed a yearlong recovery and cleaning program and returned both basins to service while maintaining permit compliance.
Trace Tidwell, superintendent of Livingston's Water Reclamation Facility, told the City Commission the plant has recovered from a pair of similar mechanical failures and that both secondary treatment basins are back in service after a year of repairs, cleaning and parts replacement.
"We have both basins fully maintenanced and back up and operational, through their seven‑year maintenance program that was forced," Tidwell said during his presentation.
Tidwell described the failure sequence: Basin 2 suffered a catastrophic failure in October 2024 and, within weeks, technicians detected the same failure pattern beginning on the second basin. Crews installed a temporary bolt to prevent a catastrophic collapse, operated the plant on a single basin while preparing the second basin for repair, and worked with vendors and contractors to rebuild damaged mixer mounts, replace aeration piping and replace diffuser membranes and discs.
Repairs required custom parts and equipment from multiple international vendors; Tidwell said some items arrived from Mexico, Germany and Great Britain, while more recent parts were sourced in the United States. He said crews replaced roughly 2,600 diffuser heads and that the effort included vacuuming large quantities of solids from the drained basin and replacing worn components.
Tidwell told the commission the work cost the city substantial sums for parts and contracted services, and he said "about $200,000 went into this base and repair." He said staff performed much of the maintenance in‑house, which reduced the total cost.
To restart biological treatment the team used stored, healthy sludge in their own basins rather than importing large volumes from another plant. "This year with it being planned the way we did, we held additional in our own WRF base," Tidwell said, noting that saved time and expense compared with last year.
Plant performance testing after startup showed both basins producing quality effluent and the facility operating within its DEQ discharge permit, Tidwell said. He reported mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) at about 3,000 in one basin and 2,800 in the other and that flow is currently split roughly 50/50.
Commissioners thanked the operations team for what several described as intensive, physically demanding work carried out while keeping the city in compliance and maintaining service. No formal action was required; the update was informational.
