A Small Town Making a Big Difference

Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay takes a lot of smart people making hard choices to do the right thing. Many times, probably most times, such folks don’t get much recognition for making a positive difference. So today, Bay Daily shines a light on the town of Purcellville, Va.

Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains about 50 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., Purcellville is a small town doing big things to help reduce its impact on the environment and the Chesapeake Bay.

The town sponsors tree plantings, stream cleanups, and workshops for residents on recycling, water conservation, rain barrels, tree care, and car maintenance to improve gas mileage. It is experimenting with low-energy LED lights to save energy on street lighting and has placed 1,271 acres of land in a conservation/open space easement to protect it from development. The town actively participates in the Virginia Municipal League’s (VML) “Go Green Virginia” campaign, two years ago receiving VML’s Certified Green Government Award.

But more than anything, town leaders and residents have accepted the challenge of reducing pollution from Purcellville’s sewage treatment plant. The Basham Simms Wastewater Facility, first built in the 1970s, modernized in 2002, and upgraded again two years ago, is now producing some of the cleanest wastewater in the entire Chesapeake Bay region. That’s not by accident.

In 2005, Virginia’s State Water Control Board began requiring sewage treatment plants around the state to significantly reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater. Historically, sewage treatment plants have been major sources of the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution harming the Bay and its rivers, especially in the Potomac River system. For that reason, all new or expanding treatment plants in the Potomac River basin were required to install “state of the art” technology to remove the maximum amount of nitrogen and phosphorus by 2010.

So in 2008, led by the town’s public works staff and with the full support of the Town Council, Purcellville began upgrading the plant to install the necessary equipment to get the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in its treated wastewater down to 4 parts per million and 0.3 parts per million, respectively -- among the lowest required in the Bay region.

The project involved expanding by a third the plant’s capacity to 1.5 million gallons a day, enlarging the plant’s ability to handle nettlesome “I and I” (natural rain water that inflows and infiltrates the sewer system through manholes and old pipes), and enhancing the plant’s “biological nutrient removal” system in which living micro-organisms break down and rid nitrogen from the wastewater.

The piece de resistance, however, is a new building in which the wastewater is forced through thousands of spaghetti-like, tubular sponges that filter out bacteria, solids, and other gunk. When it’s all combined, the plant has among the most sophisticated wastewater treatment systems in the world. Before and after samples of the wastewater demonstrating its efficiency are striking.

“We’re pretty proud of it,” says plant superintendent Scott House, who insists the treated wastewater from the plant is cleaner than the creek it’s going back into, North Fork Goose Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

And the plant’s nitrogen and phosphorus levels as the wastewater goes into the creek? “We’re operating at 3 parts per million or less nitrogen and .28 parts per million or less phosphorus,” House says proudly. That’s below the tough state standard and better than state of the art.

But it doesn’t come cheap. The upgrade is costing the town $30 million, a hefty price tag for a small town of about 7,000 people. Of the total, $5 million has come from a Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund grant, part of more than a half-billion dollars the Virginia General Assembly appropriated over the past five years to help localities modernize their sewage treatment plants to meet the new Bay pollution requirements.

The rest of the money is coming from low-interest loans that the town’s ratepayers --  residents -- will pay off now and in the years to come. Alex Vanegas, assistant public works director, acknowledges that the town had to raise sewage rates 20 percent last year and 17 percent this year to help pay for the plant upgrade. But few in town have groused about the increases, and town leaders remain committed to protecting the environment..

House (above), a career treatment plant employee, likes the water quality benefits he and his team of operators, technicians, and lab workers ensure every day. “We’re glad to be doing this, to use technology to help the Bay,” he says. “You wouldn’t be in this business if you didn’t care about the environment.” 

One thing for sure -- our rivers and the Chesapeake Bay won’t fully recover without more people like House, Vanegas, and the good folks of Purcellville, who work a little harder and pay a little more to do the right thing, the smart thing. If you’re ever in Purcellville, stop and thank them.

By Chuck Epes

Comments

[Jeanne Catrow]

Way to go, Purcellville! I have a sister who moved there 4 years ago, and she was impressed with how "green conscious" this country town is. She also mentioned that the "powers that be" do a great job of educating the residents and providing community support for their programs. Apparently, the additional fees for the treatment plant are well worth the investment.

[long island tree care]

This act can save more trees and is helpful in our ecosystem. I hope more towns and cities would adapt this kind of system.