Plant Description

The City of Gardiner owns and operates a secondary wastewater treatment plant that provides service to the communities of Gardiner, Farmingdale and Randolph.

Located in South Gardiner, the plant is capable of treating up to 4.5 million gallons of wastewater per day.

Built to remove conventional pollutants (fecal matter) at the minimum of 85% per day, the Gardiner Treatment Plant typically removes pollutants into the high 90's%. Metals are typically removed in Wastewater Sludge along with the conventional pollutants.

The Gardiner Treatment Plant uses the following equipment in its process. They are Screw Pumps, Mechanical Bar Rack, Rolling Screens, RBC's, Clarifers, Chlorine Contact Tank, Huber Screw Presses as well as several auxiliary pieces of equipment.

The Gardiner Treatment Plant is a secondary treatment facility utilizing RBCs as its biological process. RBCs (Rotating Biological Contactors) are constructed of a plastic material called media. A biological film (similar to the film on a rock in a pond) grows and attaches to the media. This film is full of microorganisms and bacteria, which come into contact with very small particles of waste in the water. These small particles of waste are food for the microorganisms and bacteria. Through reproduction and the natural food chain that occurs in any body of water, the small organisms are consumed by the larger organisms, until the biological film is large enough to break off the RBC. Once the biological film breaks off the RBC it is heavy enough to settle to the bottom of a clarifer, the next piece of equipment in the process. Once settled to the bottom of the clarifier this biological film is pumped to a tank and processed through the screw presses, where it is turned into sludge.

Sludge from Gardiner Wastewater Treatment Plant is trucked to Unity, Maine, where Casella Waste Systems uses it to produce a Class A Compost Product. This compost is used in many commercial and home applications for gardening, grass growing, etc.

The Gardiner Collection System includes nine pump stations that transport the wastewater to the Treatment Plant. Farmingdale and Randolph also maintain pump stations that transport wastewater to the facility.

Sixteen pump stations and the sewers in the Gardiner System are jointly operated by Gardiner Public Works and Wastewater Water Treatment Staff.

The City of Gardiner also has two CSOs (Combined Sewer Overflows) that divert water away from the Treatment Plant and into the Kennebec River during heavy rains or high ground water periods. To reduce and eliminate these two CSOs Gardiner will embark on several projects, so that all flows may be treated at the plant. Currently, without CSOs during heavy rains and high ground water periods, several basements in low-lying homes would become filled with wastewater.

The Gardiner Treatment Plant, and other wastewater plants like it, are here to protect the drinking water supply. The Plant also works to keep the Kennebec River free of pollutants that would limit public use and endanger the aquatic life. The Plant's number one goal is to protect our way of life through maintaining and improving water quality.

Working to ensure and improve water quality at Gardiner Wastewater are Doug Clark, Director; Larry Whitmore, Mechanic; Doug MacMaster, Chris Miller, and Ben Dice Operators.

If you would like to set up an appointment to tour your treatment plant, please don't hesitate to call us at 207-582-1351.