When the water treatment system in Batesville, Arkansas, reached the end of its life span, city officials made a bold decision. Rather than simply patch and expand the 30-year-old system or replace it with something similar, city officials decided to infuse innovation into the city’s vital infrastructure.

The city worked closely with Olsson to design and engineer a moving bed biofilm reactor wastewater treatment system, the first of its kind in Arkansas and the largest in the U.S. The new water treatment system delivers a flexible, cost-effective system that can be quickly expanded as needed and meets new, stringent effluent limits.

Using an MBBR water treatment system made the most sense for Batesville.

What makes Batesville’s new system unique is it combines a series of lagoons, a basin and the MBBR to treat wastewater through an organic process by applying vigorous aeration to the tanks, which contain millions of small plastic media. The plastic media improves the efficiency of the treatment process.

HIGHER QUALITY DISCHARGE

The results speak for themselves. The plant’s discharge into the White River is a much higher quality than that required by the permit. The amounts of ammonia and nitrogen have been reduced to nearly immeasurable amounts. In addition, the new system was a key factor for keeping a local business in town and open for business.

“We are leaps and bounds below our permitted levels, and we reached those levels with minimal effort,” says Damon Johnson, Batesville’s city engineer.

The Batesville MBBR wastewater treatment system has earned national and regional acclaim. 

Olsson is a nationally recognized engineering firm made up of people who craft expert solutions and designs that improve communities. The firm offers design and consulting services in planning and design, engineering, field services, environmental and technology.

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