Bryson City Breaks Ground on New Wastewater Treatment Plant
On May 19th, the construction phase of the Bryson City wastewater treatment plant project officially began. Team members from McGill, the Town of Bryson City, Haren, and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) gathered in the late morning to hear Tom Sutton (Bryson City Mayor), Nate Bowe (Director of Engineering and Public Works for the Town), and Mike Waresak (Project Manager for McGill) share their thoughts on the project and thank those who have already been involved.
McGill has a longstanding relationship with Bryson City—Mike Waresak started working with the Town in the 1990s, which is also when Joel Storrow, McGill’s former president, was working on the surface water treatment plant for the Town. We are proud to partner with the Town of Bryson City on projects that improve infrastructure and the community.
Benefits of a New Wastewater Treatment Plant
The existing wastewater treatment plant was constructed in the 1960s and served the Town for decades, but this project represents an important step forward. The Town of Bryson City draws in a lot of tourists, especially in the months when Western North Carolina has exceptional weather. There are all kinds of attractions nearby: the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (which runs above where the wastewater treatment plant is), the Nantahala Outdoor Center, and a variety of local places to eat and drink.
One of the benefits of the new wastewater treatment plant is the increase in capacity. The existing plant has a capacity of 600,000 gallons per day (GPD), and the new plant will have a capacity of 900,000 GPD, which increases the capacity by nearly 50%. The capacity increase will allow the Town to experience population growth for residents and tourists. In addition to supporting growth in Bryson City, the new wastewater treatment plant will help the operators by allowing them to work with new, higher quality equipment. The new plant will benefit the Town’s residents, tourists, and operators.
Cost Effective and Environmentally Friendly Practices
While designing the new plant, McGill implemented cost-effective and environmentally friendly techniques. First, when the sewage comes into the plant, it will pass through two new mechanical bar screens; these screens will filter out large pieces of debris. Then, it moves into the sequence batch reactor (SBR), which provides high quality treatment and minimizes the number of tanks that are needed. Minimizing the number of required tanks is one example of how McGill worked to find cost-effective solutions for the Town.
Next, it moves into the ultraviolet (UV) light radiation for disinfection. UV disinfection is used as a sustainable alternative to chlorination as it is more friendly to aquatic life in the natural body of water and the operators who work at the plant.
Another cost-effective solution is to use the existing wastewater treatment plant to treat and store the sludge. Choosing to reuse the existing plant for this use is a common way engineers can help communities save money when constructing a new wastewater treatment plant. Additionally, the new wastewater treatment plant will have reduced and simplified piping. Keeping all the piping, which is mainly internal and runs between different parts of the plant, consolidated and without excessive turns is another example of how McGill seeks out cost-effective methods.
Funding Services
Funding is another key part of this project. The Town of Bryson City received funding from the Division of Water Infrastructure, and McGill’s funding services team supported two successful funding applications. The Town received $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, with a small portion of a State Revolving Funds (SRF) loan, in 2022. The funding team also worked on a supplementary application for additional funding in 2025, which resulted in $3 million in principal forgiveness and additional SRF funds to support the full project budget.
Learn More
The groundbreaking ceremony was well attended and brought together a variety of people who are connected to the community, which all points back to our goal of shaping communities together. To learn more about our water / wastewater team, check out this page on our website, and you can read more about our funding services team in this article. To plan a trip to Bryson City, you can check out the Explore Bryson City website.
