PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of VROMI The Honorable Angel Meyers visited the Sewage Treatment Plant located on A Th. Illidge Road between the Salt pond and the Fresh pond. The visit was not only meant to take a tour of the treatment plant to view operations but also to sign a renewal contract between Windward Roads to manage the sewage treatment plant.
The current installation was taken into operation in October 2012 after being built by Windward roads, replacing the old Imhoff tank type of plant originally built in 1989, since then Windward roads has also managed the facility. The management contract is based on combined efforts by Windward Roads and VROMI employees
The new plant is an activated sludge process, where nutrients are removed from the sewage by controlling all naturally occurring biological processes, and no chemicals are added. Solids such as foreign objects and debris are removed automatically and discarded on the landfill. The treated water is discharged into the fresh pond.
The plant has a capacity of 4500 cubic meters of sewage per day. At present approximately one third of the treated sewage is transported to the facility by septic truck.
Other sources of sewage include pressure lines from Philipsburg, Fort Willem, Belvedere and Middle Region; the sewage is pumped to the plant through a network of pumping stations. There is also a line from the Cul de Sac valley that does not require pumps; the water flows by means of gravity.
