Crooked Creek Water Reclamation Facility To Get $21 Million Face-lift

The influent pump station will be improved and upgraded as part of the $21 million renovation at the Crooked Creek Water Reclamation Facility.

 GWINNETT COUNTY — The Board of Commissioners approved a contract on Tuesday for $21.4 million in upgrades and improvements to the Crooked Creek Water Reclamation Facility.

According to Department of Water Resources Spokesman Ron Peters, customers will not notice a difference as a result of the upgrades but also won’t have to worry about “waste water spilling everywhere” in the future. Peters called the current facility “worn out” and a “harsh environment” after years of continued service and said improving the facility now was the “fiscally responsible” thing to do.

The upgrades include construction of new headworks, a new influent pump station with electrical building, and upgrades to existing odor-control facilities along with new piping, a new flow meter, and a backflow prevention system. Future projects will add new solids handling and disinfection facilities to the plant. When finished, the Crooked Creek plant will treat 25 millions of gallons per day (mgd), up from its current 16 mgd limit, and will be easily expandable.

Federal stimulus funds will pay a portion of the interest cost on recovery zone economic development bonds for the project, said acting Water Resources Director Lynn Smarr. Pizzagalli Construction Co., Inc. was the lowest of seven bidders at 70 percent of the estimated cost of the work to be done at the plant off Holcomb Bridge Road near Norcross. Pizzagalli has also worked on Gwinnett’s two other main treatment plants, the 60 mgd Hill Plant and the 22 mgd Yellow River Plant that is currently being rebuilt.

“We’re eager to get this long-planned work underway because Crooked Creek discharges its reclaimed water to the Chattahoochee River,” Smarr said. The Hill Plant will soon begin returning reclaimed water to Lake Lanier, which also drains into the river.

“This project is another major piece of our ongoing program of upgrades to our water and sewer systems designed to comply with tighter environmental regulations and serve the county for the next 50 years,” said Chairman Charles Bannister in a released statement. “We’re grateful for the federal funds that are helping offset some of the cost of these infrastructure improvements as we prepare to meet the needs of the future.”