Eugene/Springfield Water Pollution Control Facility 1984-1991

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PREFACE The citizens, administrators, and politicians of the Eugene/ Springfield community successfully completed the construction of a much needed water pollution control facility between the years of 1979 and .1983. In Apri11984, this newfacilitywas turned over to operational staff for start up and operation. This was a profound learning period for the operational staff as challenge after challenge surfaced and was met and resolved. This report is produced by the operational staff to share the significant experiences with other operational pro- fessionals in the wastewater treatment field. This may be the only document providing the opera- tional perspective. A few specific items stand out in my mindfrom the experience. First of these is the operational staff. These people had excellent education and train- ing, and the plant would never have succeeded without them. Many of them workednights, week- ends, and holidays, and 45 to 75 hour work weeks were common. They worked hard and were suc- cessful and, even in conflict, shared one common goal: a concern for the new facility and the dis- charge of clean water. In retrospect, it is only normal to think that we could have done better. For example, in hindsight, it would have been an asset to have hired and trained all of the supervi- sorystaff first rather than in stages and also to have employed a greater percentage of staff with experi- ence. But pride is my predominant feeling regard- ing all of the operational people in all skill areas. My secondthoughtregarding this projectconcerns the citizens of Oregon. They should be given high praise! I came to the wastewater treatment field in January of 1960, a time when wastewater technol- ogy was in its infancy; raw material was dumped in volume into the Willamette River and salmon choked to death at the Oregon Falls for lack of dissolved oxygen. Now, salmon successfully mi- grate up the river each year. Oregon citizens have approvedandpaidformany, manyprojectsneeded to gain the level of water quality we enjoy today. The people were and are insistent in their demands for cleanwater, and theyhave put their money into that commitment. We owe them a lot of thanks. Finally, when I am mediative about the field of wastewater treatment, I am inclined to think "we have reached the end of the beginning." Frorn 1984, when the City of Eugene and CH2M Hill Engineering first discussed a facility at the River Avenue site, and until now, much progress has been made. But, that time was like a beginning in the sense that the next level of treatment was available and obtainable if the money was allo- cated.But, where Bowe gonow?-with the need to remove contaminants in units so small we can't measure them, and we can only guess at some of the interaction occurring in the chemistry of our wa- terways. The growing complexities of our world wide social structures will increasingly confound water issues, and in truth, we don't really possess the solutions. Perhaps only now we start the serious journey in the management of water resources. ~ ~~~ Coy E. Jones July 1993