Project Name: RM Clayton Ostara Nutrient Recovery System

Constructed in 1935, the RM Clayton Water Reclamation Center (WRC), located in northwest Atlanta along the Chattahoochee River, provides wastewater treatment for a service area that encompasses north of I-20, a small portion of north Fulton County adjacent to Sandy Springs and most of north DeKalb County. The facility is designed to treat an average daily maximum monthly flow of 122 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater for discharge to the Chattahoochee River under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit. 
 
The purpose of this project is to improve nutrient (phosphorus and nitrogen) removal within the RM Clayton WRC.  Enhanced nutrient removal will improve permit compliance, reduce chemical and operating costs, and provide a reusable byproduct. The WRC discharge permit requires the effluent to meet a total phosphorus limit. The plant employs a combination of chemical and biological phosphorus removal to meet this limit. The RM Clayton WRC dewatering cent rate has a high concentration of dissolved nutrients, specifically phosphorus and ammonia. The presence of these nutrients at high concentration causes unintentional struvite scale to form. The formation of struvite is currently providing a benefit to the plant, as phosphorus that would normally be recycled to the head of the plant is currently being removed with the plant’s dewatered sludge or via removal by adherence to the pipes in the form of struvite crystals. However, that same benefit results in underground and aboveground piping to be abandoned or removed and replaced on a regular basis increasing costs and introducing operational and compliance risk. 
 
The scope of this project includes: 

•   Designing and installing a Nutrient Recovery and Treatment System 

 
Justification: 

•   Provides a reusable by-product rather than full reliance on incineration and landfilling 
•   Reduces chemical and operating costs 
•   Improves plant reliability and certainty in meeting NPDES permit limits 
•   Reduces the need for periodic replacement of underground and aboveground piping

 
 
Project Type: Water Reclamation Centers and Facilities 
Proposed Project Start: 06/2013
Proposed Construction Start: 05/10/2018    
Scheduled Completion: 03/06/2020
Project Budget: $11,800,000 
Council District(s): 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 
NPU(s): A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K, L, M, O, S, T, V 
Project Status: Complete / Construction