Seeking to meet mandated cuts for the discharge of nutrients into the nation’s largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, a Maryland wastewater treatment plant and its design, construction and technology team are using what they say is the world’s largest application of a pollutant-reduction technology as part of a $138.7-million facility upgrade.
Team officials at the Patapsco wastewater treatment plant in Baltimore say use of the “fixed-film denitrification system” for tertiary treatment at the facility will reduce nitrogen and phosphorous discharges into the Patapsco River by 83% and 85%, respectively. The waterway is a key tributary of the bay, now on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list of “impaired waters.” High discharge levels feed the rapid growth of algae, which depletes oxygen and kills fish.