History of WPC
It can be said that
Huntsville's wastewater
treatment system is itself a "baby boomer". Public wastewater
treatment plants were first built in Huntsville in the
period of high growth following World War II.
Public sewers had been around in
Huntsville for many years prior. These sewers did not
transport sewage to treatment plants for cleaning and disinfection,
however. There were no treatment facilities.
Instead,
sewers emptied directly into ditches and streams.
In the Baby Boom period following the war, the
City initiated a major wastewater collection treatment system
improvement program. In
1957, a site on Spring Branch was selected for
Huntsville’s first wastewater treatment facility. This facility would treat
wastewater from the main downtown area. The facility, named
Huntsville Sewer Plant No. 1, was constructed in 1959. It could initially treat up
to 10 million gallons per day (MGD) of Huntsville’s
wastewater. This treatment facility is now known as the Spring
Branch Wastewater Treatment Plant, and can treat an average of 41
million gallons of wastewater per day.
Huntsville did not stop
the improvements with that project. In 1960, the City started a
project to build sewers along Aldridge Creek, to serve the
Jones Valley
area. A
pump station moved the wastewater to a new facility for
treatment. In the mid-1960’s, plans were developed for a new
facility, the South Huntsville Wastewater Treatment Plant. This facility was designed
to initially treat 300,000 gallons of wastewater per day. This
facility is now known as the Aldridge Creek Wastewater Treatment
Plant, and can treat an average of 8.4 million gallons of wastewater
per day.
Today, Huntsville's wastewater collection and
treatment system serves over 60,000 sewer customers.
The system
consists of:
-
6 wastewater
treatment plants, capable of treating nearly 80 million gallons of
wastewater per day;
-
1,400 miles
of underground sewer pipes
(ranging from 8 inches to 78 inches
in diameter);
-
35,000
manholes
(to access the system for maintenance);
-
63 pumping
stations.
