MARTINSVILLE (WSLS10) - Currently, Martinsville has one large aeration basin that generates 8 million gallons of water a day.
The city only needs about 4 million gallons a day, so city leaders would like to put a partition in the middle of the basin, dividing the basin into two 4 million gallon basins.
That would allow the city to install a new, more energy-efficient aeration system.
"[There would be] a large blower sitting off to the side [of the aeration basin] and there would be pipes running across and the aerators would be suspended, five mobile defusers, in the bottom [of the basin]," explained Martinsville Water Resource Director Andy lash.
"[The air], as it comes up, tends to mix and aerate as it goes. It's considerably more energy-efficient," Lash continued.
It could also be adjusted if the city ever needed more than 4 million gallons a day.
The city also hopes to save about $500,000 a year by adding a chemical, most likely a lime stabilizer because local soil is lime deficient, to the sludge that is created from the treatment of the wastewater.
This new sludge could then be used as fertilizer for local farmers, eliminating the city having to haul the sludge down to a landfill in North Carolina.
"There's a tipping fee. There's a cost to do that," Martinsville City Manager Leon Towarnicki explained.
He added that the city has already gotten positive feedback from farmers. "We've had some interest from sod farms, turf farms for example, in using a product like that.
Towarnicki says the roughly half a million dollars a year the city would save would cover the cost of paying back the $10 to 12 million loan the city is considering applying for from the state clean water revolving loan fund program for the project.
"If this is structured as an energy savings project, then those savings are guaranteed by the company," Towarnicki emphasized.
If the savings don't cover the cost, the company will pay the difference. City leaders will meet with representatives from the company, Johnson Controls, Wednesday to discuss exactly what the project would cost.
The deadline to apply for the loan is July 15.
If the city gets the money, the project could be complete in about a year.