Princeton Wastewater Improvements Groundbreaking
On Wednesday, September 30th, the City of Princeton celebrated the groundbreaking of their Wastewater Improvements Project. The groundbreaking was a light at the end of a four-year tunnel for Princeton that included finding the right engineer, funding, and contractor for the job.
When Toyota Motor Manufacturing constructed a new automobile production plant in Princeton over 20 years ago, Commonwealth Engineers designed a second wastewater treatment system adjacent to Princeton’s existing plant to handle these new flows. While this plant served the community well for 20 years, aging infrastructure, additional flow, and new regulations necessitated upgrades to the facility. Commonwealth designed a plan that repurposed existing tanks with more modern technology to regain treatment capacity and enhance the capabilities of the plant.
“There is not much in this facility that will not be receiving an upgrade,” stated Commonwealth’s Eric Parsley.
The upgraded facility will better manage settling and foaming issues, biological nutrient removal for phosphorus reduction, disinfection, and sludge digestion. Other key improvements include a new biological odor control system and upgrades to electrical systems and infrastructure within the plant to allow more operational flexibility to enhance performance and allow easier maintenance.
Commonwealth assisted Princeton in obtaining an extremely low interest rate of 1.125% from USDA Rural Development to fund the project.
