2024 EEA Award Winner- Owasso Waste Water Treatment Plant. STV, Inc.
Owasso, OK, is one of the fastest growing cities in Tulsa and Rogers counties. For the nearly 38,000 residents, the City of Owasso Public Works Department (Owasso Public Works) oversees the city’s waste collection and treatment services, including the Owasso Wastewater Treatment Plant.
After identifying signs of deterioration and inefficiency, as well as aging equipment, Owasso Public Works sought to increase the plant’s capacity while making the facility more sustainable over the next decade. In 2017, the client initiated its $22 million Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and Main Plant Lift Station Expansion project, one of the largest initiatives that the City of Owasso has ever undertaken.
STV provided design services for the first phase of the plant’s expansion, including improvements to its main pump station, headworks, aeration basins, blowers, digesters, and non-potable water system. The firm also designed two new electrical buildings and generators and other key infrastructure for the plant’s operations. STV also performed cost evaluations on blower and process technologies. STV’s design needed to address the client’s immediate needs and deliver a long-term, sustainable and environmentally compliant plant expansion that will serve the Owasso community as it continues to grow.
Key project challenges included developing solutions that improved effluent quality, reduced energy consumption, and decreased the plant’s potable water usage. The completed plant’s upgrades have reduced energy usage by 30% and potable water usage by 60%, compared to levels prior to construction. The new aeration basin and digester feature high-speed turbo blower technology and anoxic zones. The upgraded aeration systems, pump station and headworks facility are now more effective at removing materials and pollution from the effluent. Digesters are now capable of mixing aeration separately, which enhances the plant’s ability to break down biosolids. Since the project’s substantial completion, the plant has lowered levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonia in its effluent.
As the furthest wastewater treatment plant upstream on Bird Creek, improving water quality at Owasso WWTP improves the water along the whole stream segment. The plant expansion impacts not only Owasso residents, but also Oklahomans and the numerous communities who live downstream.
With a more reliable system, reduced energy and operating costs, and improved water and effluent quality, the Owasso WWTP expansion project provides the city and its residents with a modern system with built-in capacity for future growth.