Wastewater Systems Get Repaired After Helene’s Devastation
Hurricane Helene took Western North Carolina by surprise. For many rural mountain towns, life would look very different when the floodwater receded. For the Town of Marshall, life was muddy. The French Broad River runs alongside Marshall’s downtown area. On one side of the river, there are restaurants with patio seating (one of which hosts ballad singers one night each month), town government buildings, and shops that sell records, art, and instruments. On the other side of the river, there is a road that winds drivers up the mountain and an island, Blannahassett Island, which holds the Town’s wastewater treatment plant.
Choosing to Repair
Helene bloated the French Broad River to a peak of 27 feet in Marshall. There is a bridge that connects the two sides of Marshall, and the water rose all the way to the top of the bridge. Standing on the bridge, which is now open and usable, there is still some trash in parts of the cement where the water wedged it into place. Downtown businesses saw feet of water enter their buildings, and water reached the second floor of the wastewater treatment plant.
The plant is on an island, which might seem like precarious placement, but in a rural mountain town like Marshall, there are not better alternatives. The lack of better options is part of the reason why the Town chose to make repairs to the existing wastewater treatment plant instead of building a new facility elsewhere.
State of the Wastewater Treatment Plant
McGill helped the Town to bring the wastewater treatment plant back into operation. The improvements and repairs that McGill assisted the Town with include:
- Dewatering and removing debris from the oxidation ditch
- Dewatering and removing debris from the secondary clarifier
- Repairing the oxidation ditch aerators by adding new motors, adding a new gear box, and repairing the other gear box
- Making electrical repairs to service the plant and oxidation equipment
- Rebuilding and repairing the secondary clarifier arm—we also serviced and cleaned the gear box and repaired the clarifier drive motor
- Cleaning and servicing the return / waste sludge pumps and installing new motors as well as a new control panel for the pumps
The Future of Marshall’s Wastewater
In the coming months, McGill will continue helping get the Town of Marshall’s wastewater treatment plant back to pre-Helene conditions. The work our team anticipates for the future includes:
- Placing a new floating surface aerator for the aerobic digestor
- Converting the UV channel to a chlorine contact chamber to improve disinfection of the treated plant effluent
- Adding new security fencing
- Evaluating a new belt filter press for dewatering and managing the sludge
A Neighboring Town
A town near Marshall, the Town of Hot Springs, faced flooding and associated challenges as well. The wastewater treatment plant in the Town of Hot Springs was also located along the French Broad River. Before Helene, the plant was already over capacity and needed to be replaced; it was an aging facility, as it had been built in 1968. The flooding from Helene also destroyed one of the Town’s four pump stations. Until early December, businesses east of Spring Creek, which is the creek that splits the downtown, were without functioning toilets.
Since Helene, McGill has completed the sewer line restoration for the central business district of Hot Springs, which includes Vinyl Pies, Spring Creek Tavern, Spring Creek Hotel, and Big Pillow Brewery, among others. These repairs have helped some of the businesses get back on their feet.
We Keep Our Clients at the Center
At McGill, we focus on finding solutions that are best suited for the client. The Towns of Marshall and Hot Springs, as well as many others, endured so much tragedy and heartbreak with Hurricane Helene, and we are thankful to have a team that is equipped to help restore critical infrastructure.
Learn More About McGill
As of the first weekend of May, the Towns of Marshall and Hot Springs have reopened. To learn more about our water / wastewater team and our funding services team, check out our website. Reach out to Keith Webb at keith.webb@mcgillassociates.com with any questions.
