King George Service Authority OKs $38,500 study of Dahlgren wastewater plant after engineer warns upgrades needed to meet nutrient limits

The King George County Service Authority voted to approve a $38,500 contract with Bowman to develop a prioritized plan of repairs and upgrades at the Dahlgren Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The study will scope equipment and structural work, produce planning-level cost estimates and phased priorities, and include workshops with operators and county staff; Bowman principal Bob Crowlinger told directors the plant was retrofitted to meet Chesapeake Bay nutrient limits and now struggles to meet the low total-nitrogen permit.

Crowlinger said the plant “really was not designed initially to meet that kind of permit,” and that several pieces of the treatment process need engineering review. He pointed to aging aeration drives and an installed submerged media retrofit that is “not effectively helping” nitrogen removal. Crowlinger recommended a planning document that ranks immediate safety and compliance work, medium-term reliability upgrades and longer-term capital projects.

Why it matters: Dahlgren is the authority’s largest facility and the board has recorded recent nutrient exceedances; the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has already been engaged. Board members said the plant’s limits and potential regional needs — including whether the plant could accept outside septage or nonpotable “purple pipe” flows — make a technical plan necessary before the authority commits to major construction.

Directors asked about common, lower-cost fixes and asset-protection work such as corrosion coatings and enclosures. Crowlinger said those items should be captured in the asset-management portion of the study so the authority can weigh lifecycle costs (for example, choosing stainless-steel enclosures vs. painted carbon steel). The engineer estimated the study would take roughly three months to complete if authorized.

Action approved: The board voted, by roll call, to accept Bowman’s proposal for a wastewater-plant assessment and prioritized upgrade plan at a cost of $38,500. The transcript roll call records votes in favor from the board members recorded as Mister Robotham, Mister Collins, Mister Sollins, Mister Davis and the chair (motion carried). The study will include workshops with the plant operator and service-authority staff and produce tiered recommendations (safety/compliance, 12–18 month items, and longer-term investment items).

Details directors emphasized: the study should (1) evaluate aeration and media approaches (Crowlinger suggested moving from aging surface-disc aeration to floor-mounted diffusers in some basins), (2) review the structural condition and corrosion protection needs for equipment, and (3) inventory instrumentation and controls that govern permit compliance. Crowlinger also said any plan to accept septage or reclaimed flows would be an additional constraint and should be evaluated explicitly; he advised not to accept outside septage until the plant’s performance is proven and necessary pretreatment/upgrades are identified.

Board members and staff said the study is intended to support grant requests and talk tracks with DEQ about regional solutions. The board’s general manager noted DEQ watched the presentation and that the authority may use the study to pursue outside funding or regional coordination to address septage policy and upgrades.

Next steps: Staff will issue a purchase order per the approved proposal and schedule workshops with Bowman, the plant operator and county staff; Bowman estimated about three months to deliver a planning report with cost ranges and priority tiers. The board did not approve capital construction at this meeting; it approved only the engineering assessment.