Closure of a Large Wastewater Basin at a Plywood Manufacturing Facility, 1995 Environmental Conference Proceedings

S. David Myers & T. Gregg Gibbons

RMT, Inc.

Thomas B. Ross

Champion International Corporation

Champion International Corporation (Champion) operated a plywood manufacturing facility from 1974 to 1989 in South Carolina. During production operations, a 70x10 6 liter basin was used to segregate solids and recirculate water to log soaking vats. Following shutdown of the facility, Champion and RMT, Inc., developed a Closure Plan that incorporated several innovative approaches:

- Floating solids were removed from the basin and disposed of off-site.

- Aerators were installed in the basin to enhance biological activity to treat the residual waters and aerobically digest and stabilize the sludge.

- The NPDES Permit included site-specific Oil & Grease (O&G) analytical techniques to account for color body interferences to the standard O&G test procedure.

- An outfall diffuser was used to eliminate toxicity and color impacts in the receiving stream. The self-anchoring design of the diffuser allowed for minimum stream bed disruption during diffuser installation.

- Real-time computer access to USGS river stage data allowed for hydrographically controlled discharge of treated water.

- A floating pump suction facilitated maximum water removal from the basin.

- An above-ground, temporarily anchored, discharge pipeline eliminated disruption of traversed wetlands.

- Quick lime (CaO) was used to effectively structurally stabilize the sludge in-situ after the removal of the bulk of the water from the basin.