Pole Bridge Advanced Wastewater
Treatment Facility
The Pole Bridge Creek
Advanced Secondary Wastewater Treatment Facility
is located
in southeast DeKalb County. This
facility was originally constructed in 1973 as a small
three million gallon per day secondary treatment facility.
In 1990, the facility was upgraded to 20 million gallons
per day with the addition of a Biosolids Reuse program.
The
facility operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Pole
Bridge Creek facility primarily treats waste generated
in the Lithonia area along with some waste generated
in Gwinnett County. The treated wastewater meets state
and Federal
requirements before being discharged into the
South River.
The nutrients in the
biosolids are taken up into the plant tissues and then
removed from the site
when the hay is
harvested. The harvested hay can then be used for animal
feed or erosion control projects. Recycling biosolids
is much more environmentally responsible than other available
sludge disposal technologies. Through beneficial reuse
it has not been necessary to use valuable landfill space
for biosolids disposal. By applying biosolids at the
land
application site since 1990, over 129,000 cubic yards
of landfill space were saved and made available for other
uses. Beneficial reuse methodology is the US Environmental
Protection Agency's preferred means of solids management.
This method has also saved the county thousands of dollars
over other disposal methods.
