There’s been nothing dull about working at Bowling Green’s water treatment plant the past decade.
One project after another has been undertaken to improve water quality, increase capacity and improve
reliability. The plant sits adjacent to the Maumee River on Ohio 65 near King Road. The facility was put
into service 60 years ago.
"It has been non-stop construction around here for a long time," said acting plant
superintendent Chad Johnson. "Once the membrane filtration is up and running, I don’t see much
happening for a while. There’s room to add another membrane unit but that might not happen for 10
years."
The membrane filtration, which includes reverse osmosis equipment, adds three million gallons of water a
day to the plant’s capacity. Johnson said the high quality water the unit produces will be blended with
water from other processes at the plant and pumped to BG and other customers in Wood County.
"Bowling Green has been proactive and way ahead of the game on these things," said Johnson, who
has worked at the plant 19 years and started with the city five years earlier at its wastewater
treatment plant.
Among other projects in recent years are a granulated activated carbon filtration system, a new
laboratory and administration area, a multi-tech filtration system, a one-million gallon clear well for
storing finished water, and a pumping station that increases pumping capacity from the river to the
reservoir to 40.5 million gallons of water a day from 8.5 million gallons per day.
The pumping station costs $5.5 million and the membrane-reverse osmosis addition cost about the same,
even though the project carried a $13 million estimate. A combination of good bids, a federal stimulus
grant and a no interest loan account for the lower cost.
The water plant has a staff of nine, down from 11, and Johnson expects that number to hold steady. All
must have one of four levels of plant operator licenses. The first three require passing a test in
Columbus. The fourth level is required to be a plant superintendent.
Johnson said getting a Class IV license requires a person to have held a Class III permit for at least
two years and to have worked in a management role for two years. He said the Class IV permit requires
writing an eight-part thesis. "You have to write about your experience, about the plant and how it
operates in detail, the water distribution system, budgeting and other issues. Then you send it to an
advisory board for review."
Director of Utilities Kevin Maynard said Johnson’s document has been submitted and reviewed. "We
have gone over their critique and are confident that when he makes some additions it will be
accepted," Maynard said. "He has been working on this over a period of time and that’s the way
most people do it." When the Class IV license is approved, "acting" will be removed from
Johnson’s title.
Johnson enjoys showing off the plant additions, explaining the processes and some "antique"
equipment that is kept around to show how operations have changed. "The membrane operation will
pretty much run itself," he said. All of the plant processes are monitored at a central computer
station, which will be upgraded with completion of the membrane unit.
The increased pumping capacity from the river will allow the plant operators to be very picky about the
quality of water pulled into the reservoir. Johnson said the pumps will be able to fill the reservoir in
approximately four days, providing a 45-day supply.
"Better water from the river means we need to use less chemicals in treatment, which saves
money," Johnson said.
This week the plant has been pumping a little over four million gallons of finished water a day.
"When BGSU comes back next week we’ll see a one million gallon increase a day," Johnson said.
During 2010 the plant’s peak pumping day was in July at 7.9 million gallons. The next highest days were
in June and August. The EPA rates plant capacity at 10.5 mgd.
Johnson said a lot of the work completed at the plant was done to meet tighter standards being set by the
EPA and anticipated requests for additional water in rural areas of Wood County. Customers outside the
city pay a surcharge for water.