Blodgett Landing Community Treatment Plant

Septic System Background

Located in Newbury, NH, the Blodgett Landing Community Treatment Plant is a 50,000 gallons per day (GPD) facility that uses passive treatment, denitrification, and dispersal to purify the town’s wastewater. Starting in 2001, facility operators began detecting elevated levels of harmful nitrogen in the effluent and groundwater.

This problem only worsened as Newbury’s population continued to grow. So in 2010, the Blodgett Landing Community Treatment Plant decided to upgrade its facility. However, cost was a major hurdle for the town. The facility operated on a limited budget, making it hard to find an affordable solution that could deliver the desired wastewater treatment results.

In addition to the upfront cost of upgrading its facility, the Blodgett Landing Community Treatment Plant was also worried about ongoing operational and maintenance expenses.

Given Newbury’s heavy dependence on recreational tourism, the facility wanted a wastewater treatment solution that wouldn’t endanger the region’s natural beauty.

Septic System Solution

The Blodgett Landing Community Treatment Plant explored a number of options, including lining the original sand filters so that effluent could be recirculated into an Imhoff tank. However, this approach didn’t deliver consistent treatment results – especially during the winter months. Uncontrolled freezing and insufficient denitrification were fairly common whenever temperatures fell below a certain threshold.

City officials then reached out to Presby Environmental for help. After careful analysis of the situation, Presby recommended replacing the current sand filter configuration with an Enviro-Septic^® system. This approach would also complement the existing Imhoff tank and recirculation.

However, there were additional benefits of using the Enviro-Septic^®treatment technology, including:

• Higher savings. Because of its compact size, the Enviro-Septic^® system is affordable to install. Due to its low maintenance requirements, it doesn’t need as many repairs or upgrades.
• Cleaner water. The Enviro-Septic^® product is a proven technology for removing up to 99% of contaminants, including Fecal Coliform, TKN, TN, TSS, and BOD.
• Environmentally friendly. Because the Enviro-Septic^® pipe uses passive filtration and bacterial ecosystems, there’s no need to use harmful chemicals or an external power source. The water treatment process is 100% green, allowing Newbury to protect its natural resources.
• Wintertime performance. Bacterial ecosystems combined with warmed effluent help prevent the Enviro-Septic® system from freezing during colder months. This is partially why Enviro-Septic^® technology is already so popular throughout Europe and Canada.

Finally, Enviro-Septic^® products are ideally suited for “cluster” or “STEP” configurations. For growing communities, this is increasingly the approach of choice since “cluster” septic installations:

• Deliver superior wastewater filtration results for large-flow needs.
• Are easily scalable, allowing facility operators to add more capacity over time.
• Have lower upfront costs and fewer ongoing expenses like maintenance.

Septic System Result

With the Enviro-Septic^® wastewater treatment system finally installed, the Blodgett Landing Community Treatment Plant can now handle effluent flows approaching 88,000 gallons per day. Area residents benefit from highly treated water that exceeds the regulatory standards set by the state of New Hampshire.

The following chart illustrates the contaminant levels after the Enviro-Septic^® system upgrade.