Water Treatment Facilities
Clarence B. Walker Water Treatment Plant
The Cartersville water plant is a high rate drinking water treatment facility which utilizes anthracite coal filters, 10 sedimentation basins and chemical feed systems. Raw water from Lake Allatoona gravity flows into the plant where it is treated with alum, chlorine, carbon, polymer and lime before flash mixing. It then proceeds through sedimentation tanks and multimedia (sand and anthracite coal) high rate filters. These filters will process 6 gallons per minute per square foot. The water then goes through chlorination, fluoridation and pH adjustment and phosphate before it spends at least 30 minutes in a holding well for disinfection. The water is then pumped to the water system by high service pumps. The plant's water pressure ranges between 95 and 100 PSI. We are proud of this facility and its staff for consistently producing excellent tasting water. There are 8 state certified operators on staff who operate the facility 24/7, 365 days a year, to assure quality and dependability.
Wastewater Treatment Plant
The spent water of the community goes to our 15 million gallon per day activated sludge facility where it is treated to an acceptable level before discharging to the Etowah River. This is a biological process that reduces the organic and solids content of the water to meet a Georgia Environmental Protection Division discharge permit. The plant consists of a bar screen, lift stations, 3 aeration basins (total 10 million gallon capacity), clarification, chlorination and dechlorination. Chlorination is accomplished with gaseous chlorine and dechlorination is done with sodium bisulfate. A staff of 8 state certified operators fine-tune this biological factory to produce environmentally acceptable finished water. The biosolids generated in this plant are digested and applied to farmland for ultimate disposal. This is a state approved land application program that has been ongoing for over 20 years. Our program has received state and national recognition and many farmers have benefited from it.
Engineering
Our in-house engineering group does project management for construction projects that are contracted out by the Water Department. This division also does project inspection for projects that are installed by developers which are to be ultimately turned over to the City. This division assures that quality control and adherence to department specifications are met during the construction period. Availability of service as well as long range planning is also a part of the responsibility of engineering. Ed Mullinax is in charge of this department and he can be reached at 770-387-5653.
