Oxford Village’s new $2.5 million water treatment facility on S. Glaspie St. is operational and Plant Superintendent Jim Smith described the water quality as ‘excellent.?
‘When you wash your car, you shouldn’t have (white) spots on it after you’re done,? he said.
Those spots Smith referred to were the result of calcium and manganese deposits ? minerals naturally found in Oxford’s groundwater supply ? which for a while weren’t being eliminated from village water because the old plant’s softeners were no longer functioning properly.
The new plant is now equipped with three softeners, versus the old plant’s two units, each capable of treating much more water thanks to their larger diameters.
It’s also equipped with two massive filters, which can be seen protruding through the plant’s roof, designed to continue eliminating iron and arsenic from the water.
Overall, the new plant is capable of producing double the amount of treated water to meet village residents? needs.
‘With the old plant, we were putting out about 720 gallons per minute,? Smith said. ‘The new one, right now, we’re running it at 1,010 gallons a minute. The maximum it can run is 1,500 gallons a minute.?
Smith noted the new plant can fill the village’s 500,000 gallon water tower ‘twice as fast.?
The old plant’s maximum daily output was about 1.2 million gallons. When the new one’s ‘cranked all the way up,? Smith said it’s capable of producing 2.16 million gallons a day.
This is will come in handy during the summer months, particularly August, which is usually the hottest and experiences the highest demand for water.
‘We’re running million-gallon days almost every day in August,? Smith said. ‘That was really pushing it (for the old plant).?
One feature that Smith really enjoys about the new plant is its ‘state-of-the-art? controls that run things via radio signals versus the old pressure switches and relays.
Thanks to these new controls, Smith can now adjust the rate at which water is pumped and treated with the simple twist of a dial.
The old plant produced 720 gallons per minute as long as the system was running, no matter what.
Smith indicated the new variable speed pumps are much more ‘energy efficient? because they can be turned down when the demand is low and increased when the customer need rises.
‘And when it does kick on, it doesn’t kick on (right away) at the maximum pumping level, whatever you have it set at,? Smith said. ‘It will (gradually) speed up until it gets to your set level.?