Active duty members, civilians operate vital base infrastructure Published July 2, 2014 By Senior Airman Sarah Hall-Kirchner 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The Donald L. Kolnberg Wastewater Treatment Plant at Scott Air Force Base is one of a few plants remaining on an Air Force installation. On June 23 Chief Master Sgt. Wesley D. Mathias, 375th Air Mobility Wing command chief, visited the plant to learn more about it. The plant receives raw sewage from every facility on base and from housing after traveling through miles of underground piping. Under strict guidance, the plant collects and cleans the water before it can be discharged into a local creek. There are five military members and seven civilian operators who currently work at the plant 24 hours a day, seven days a week on a three shift schedule. "The civilian operators are permanent employees," said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Simmons, 375th Civil Engineer Squadron water and fuels systems maintenance section chief. "We rotate the military members on an eight month rotation. This allows the Airmen to become proficient in daily operations in an area of our career field that they may not otherwise see in their careers." There are three basic steps to cleaning and treating the water, according to Simmons. The first is primary treatment, which is designed to remove suspended and floating solids from raw sewage. This step includes screening to trap solid objects and sedimentation by gravity to remove suspended solids. Biological treatment is the secondary step, removing dissolved organic matter that escapes primary treatment. This is achieved by microbes consuming the organic matter as food and converting it to carbon dioxide, water, and energy for their own growth and reproduction. The biological process is then followed by additional settling tanks to remove more of the suspended solids. Tertiary treatment, the third step, is simply additional treatment beyond secondary. Tertiary treatment removes up to 99 percent of all the impurities from sewage by using sand filters, producing an effluent product of almost drinking-water quality. "After solid waste, called sludge, is separated from the water, it is pumped to a digester. The bacteria and enzymes in the digester tanks break down the solids, producing a liquid fertilizer which is pumped out twice a year and applied to local farming fields as fertilizer," said Simmons. Mathias walked through the entire plant with Airmen as they completed their daily tasks. At the end of the tour he said he was impressed. "The Airmen are enthusiastic and passionate about their jobs," said Mathias. "I have a true appreciation and better understanding of what they do. I specifically enjoyed them allowing me to actually perform some of the functions of their job. They take pride in treating our water." Scott's wastewater treatment plant follows strict guidance from the Illinois and Federal Environmental Protection Agencies, said Simmons. The Federal Clean Water Act requires that all municipal, industrial and commercial facilities that discharge wastewater directly from a point source (a discrete conveyance such as a pipe, ditch or channel) into a water of the United States (such as a lake, river, or ocean) must obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. All permits are written to ensure the receiving waters will achieve their Water Quality Standards. This permit regulates what tests we run and how often we do them. Every test is reported to the IEPA monthly and annually to the Federal EPA. After water is treated, and before it's released back into the environment, the wastewater treatment plant monitors the biological oxygen demand, the total suspended solids, the chlorine residual amount, fecal coliform, and dissolved oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus levels to ensure they remain below acceptable levels by the State of Illinois and the Federal EPA. The plant staff also ensures a pH balance between six to nine is maintained. Simmons pointed out that the Airmen who staff the plant also have other duties, away from the plant. "The Wastewater Treatment Plant is only part of what we do to support Team Scott," he said. "We also maintain fire suppression systems, backflow prevention devices, fuel dispensers, interior and exterior plumbing, oil and water separators, natural gas distribution and maintenance of swimming pool operations in the summer, just to name a few."