The Camden County sewer system began operation in 2008. The service area includes the section of highway 158 between and including Lambs Marina and the Medical Park, Gumberry Rd., Hwy 343 from Gumberry Rd. to Scotland Rd. and Scotland Rd. The largest customers are the four schools, the courthouse complex and River Bridge Apartments.
The entire sewer collection system is force main, meaning that every connection has a tank, pump, and pump controls. The thirteen duplex pump stations are equipped with larger concrete tanks and two pumps with telemetry, so operations can be monitored from the treatment plant.
The duplex pump stations have to be visited at least once a week to check for grease build up, pump and control float operation, run hours, wash down and any other problems that may occur. The two main pump stations are the courthouse complex and Burnt Mills; they move the waste to the waste water plant. Both main pump stations have on-site backup generators, and we have two mobile generators for the other pump stations. We do all the basic maintenance on the generators in house.
The capacity of the wastewater treatment plant is 100,000 gallons per day. We currently average around 18,000 gallons per day when the schools are in session and about 9000 gallons per day on holidays and weekends. The wastewater plant also has a backup generator for emergency power.
After the wastewater is treated it is pumped three miles north to the 5.9 million gallon storage pond at the spray irrigation site. There are currently four zones with spray nozzles and green ash trees planted. The treated wastewater is sprayed on the zones as necessary to keep the level down in the storage pond. A sewer maintenance worker keeps the grass cut, spray nozzles unclogged and maintains equipment as necessary.