Staff
David Pena
Interim Treatment Plant Foreman
wwforeman@cityofkingsville.com
Rudy Mendez
Wastewater Collection Foreman
Administrative Secretary (VACANT)
trtplant@cityofkingsville.com
Mission
To protect and/or improve the health, welfare and quality of life for the
citizens of Kingsville by providing for the collection, treatment, and disposal
of wastewater in accordance with all federal, state, and local regulations in
the most cost effective manner possible.
Collection System - Service Area
The wastewater system service area is located primarily within the Kingsville
city limits. The Wastewater Department's Maintenance of Lines and Construction
Activities consist of 8 personnel with a combined annual operating budget of
about $550,000 thousand. The City of Kingsville wastewater collection system
consists of over 90.9 miles of sanitary sewer and 9 lift stations. The
collection system consists of a myriad of clay, concrete, ductile iron and PVC
lines ranging in size from 4" (for service lines) to 60" in diameter (for trunk
mains). City Wastewater forces assume the responsibility of maintenance, repair
and rehabilitation for every aspect of the wastewater collection system except
for that portion on private property. On an annual basis, wastewater forces
respond to approximately 840 calls, install clean-outs, repair, replace or
rehabilitate about 71 manholes, and clean over feet of wastewater mains.
Wastewater Treatment Plant
The Wastewater Treatment Plant�s consists of 11 personnel, with a current annual
operating budget of about $ 750,000. This group's responsibility and purpose is
to operate and maintain the City's 9 wastewater lift stations and to maintain
all equipment and facilities required to keep the City's 2 wastewater treatment
plants in operation. The workload required for maintenance and operation of lift
stations for the last 12 months includes approximately 4,800 preventive
maintenance work orders and/or inspections and approximately 1700 actual work
orders for repairs of equipment or facilities. The workload required for
maintenance of the treatment plants for the last 12 months includes
approximately 1600 preventive maintenance work orders and/or inspections and
approximately 1400 actual work orders for repairs of equipment or facilities.
Pre-Treatment
The City of Kingsville�s Pretreatment Program operates in accordance with a
federal law requiring publicly owned treatment works to regulate the volume and
character of non-domestic wastes treated by the system. Many industries produce
wastewater from manufacturing processes that may not be compatible with normal
domestic wastewater treatment technology. In these cases, the industries are
required to pre-treat their wastes to an acceptable level prior to discharging
them into the City system.
The Kingsville Pretreatment Program is currently staffed with four full time
personnel. A pretreatment coordinator oversees the activities of two inspectors
and one laboratory assistant. The inspectors both hold class "B" Wastewater
Operator Certificates from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality,
and the laboratory assistant holds a class "C" Certificate.
The program regulates and issues permits to major industries defined as
"Significant Industrial Users," as well as numerous smaller industries that have
a potential to impact the wastewater treatment system. In addition, all
restaurants are inspected and sampled on a rotating basis to determine the
strength of wastes from food preparation activities and to make sure that grease
interceptor units are functioning and maintained properly. Restaurants are then
surcharged for the additional cost involved with treating their high strength
wastes.
Finally, the pretreatment program operates a sampling and analysis program that
tracks the presence of toxic or incompatible pollutants in the treatment system.
Analyses are regularly performed that indicate concentrations of dissolved heavy
metals, organic chemicals, and pesticides. Sources of these pollutants are
actively investigated and source reductions or controls are implemented wherever
possible. Effluent toxicity tests are performed as well to help identify sources
of toxic materials that cannot be specifically identified.
Wastewater Treatment
Treatment of wastewater is actually a remarkably simple process that utilizes
very basic physical, biological, and chemical principles to remove contaminants.
Use of mechanical or physical systems to treat wastewater is generally referred
to as primary treatment, and use of biological processes to provide further
treatment is referred to as secondary treatment. Advanced secondary treatment
usually involves applying chemical systems in addition to biological ones, such
as injecting chlorine to disinfect the water.
Wastewater Treatment Tour
Wastewater is composed of human and household wastes from toilets, sinks, baths,
and drains, non-hazardous chemicals, and other wastes from factories, food
services operations, airports, shopping centers, etc. It is 99% water and very
little waste. Homes, businesses, institutions, and industries are connected to
vast networks of underground pipes that transport wastewater to treatment plants
where it is cleaned and released back into the environment.
Sewer systems have been carrying away wastewater since the times of ancient
Rome. But not until the 1800�s after hundreds of thousand s of people died from
and epidemic caused by bacteria found in polluted water flowing through sewers
and streets, have safer and more sanitary wastewater collection and treatment
techniques evolved through a combination of biology, physics, chemistry, and
engineering. The result? Public health and water quality are safe and reliable.
Wastewater Mostly Consists of:
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