Wastewater Management

Wastewater Management System

Muskegon County has good news for operations that produce unusual or hard-to-treat industrial or commercial waste!

A pilot project for USEPA, the Wastewater Management System is so massive it has been viewed by orbiting NASA astronauts. The Plant uses a land treatment process encompassing 11, 000 acres of aeration and settling basins, storage lagoons, and irrigated cropland.

The current wholesale charges to the communities total $2.65 per thousand gallons for O&M and bonds. The local townships and cities then add charges for their own sewer collection systems.

Exceptionally clean water is returned to the Muskegon River, eventually flowing to Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan.

Extra capacity to treat high strength (high BOD or solids) wastes was added in the 1990s. With low wastewater charges and low surcharge rates for high-strength wastes, the County has the ability to lower commercial or industrial production costs in an environmentally-friendly manner.

The System currently treats discharges from firms engaged in organic chemical manufacturing, food processing, and a variety of metals coating and forming

The System also receives hauled waste from outside the county, including out of state.

System Advantages:

• A treatment facility that can handle hard-to-treat industrial waste, frequently without pre-treatment
• Low overall operating costs
• Very clean discharge to lakes, rivers, and streams

For industries that have hard-to-treat wastes, the County System can treat:

• high volumes of wastewater or high variations in flow
• wastewaters with high amounts of suspended solids or biochemical oxygen demand