Graphic: See how the process works

JT Hand stood on a metal deck in front of three silolike tanks that rose more than 20 feet above his head.

Next to him, tubes and hoses fed into boxes marked Dewatering Process 1 and Dewatering Process 2.

Those boxes were the last stop in a journey of at least two miles for dirt and mud carried up from the watershed system.

Here, in these boxes, explained Hand, the chief operating officer for the York Water Co., the sediment is pressed to release most of the remaining water, which is then sent back through the filtration process.

The remaining dirt lands in green

JT Hand explains how a plate settler removes sediment from water before the filtration process begins. The water company believes it is the first zero-discharge facility in
Pennsylvania.

(Daily Record/Sunday News - Jason Plotkin)

Dumpsters a few feet away and will later be taken to a quarry, where the fine silt-like soil will be mixed with organic material and returned to the land.

Hand's face glowed as he described the process carried out at the water company's sediment recycling facility, which has been in use since July.

The water company said it believes it is the first zero-discharge facility in the state, Hand said, meaning it doesn't waste anything brought into the system.

"We have to pay to pump the water to the top of the hill," Hand said. "Once it gets to the top of the hill, we're going to use it."

Over the long term, the facility will save on energy and labor. The increased efficie-
ncy, Hand said, is better for both the environment and the water company's customers.

Getting water from the watershed to a consumer tap is a complex process.

First, the water is pumped from the South Branch of the Codorus Creek, two miles up a hill to the filtration plant at Reservoir Park in Spring Garden Township.

That water brings with it sediment -- bits of mud from a creek bottom, runoff from a farmer's field, dirt swept into the watershed by a storm. Almost all of these particles are separated from the water as the water passes through

Two of York Water Co.'s four settling basins, on the left, with three flocculators to the right. Water pumped from the south branch of the Codorus Creek is brought here to separate water from sediment before the filtration process.

(Daily Record/Sunday News - Jason Plotkin)

settling basins.

The water moves through a filtration process, into a storage tank and then eventually into homes.

For years, York Water would pipe the sediment left behind -- a watery mud, the consistency of chocolate milk left in the bottom of a glass -- to lagoons off site to dry out. Twice a year, workers would dig out the remnants, a fine silt, to be reused as fertilizer, said Jeff Hines, the company's president and chief executive officer.

But the process was inefficient -- water and sediment were both lost -- and the lagoons were in need of replacement. Several years ago, the company started looking for options.

They found PW Tech, which specialized in waste water and industrial sludge treatment, but was looking to adapt

JT Hand, the chief operating officer for the York Water Co., stands in front of two settling basins at the Spring Garden Township Plant. The basin on the left was built in the 1950s and can process about 8 million gallons a day. The one on the right was renovated last year and can process 40 million gallons a day.

(Daily Record/Sunday News - Jason Plotkin)

its technology for municipal water supply.

After two successful trials, York Water decided PW Tech could meet its needs.

Now, sediment removed before and during the filtration process is pumped into the recycling facility. When it arrives there, it is 1 percent solid, said John Poklembo, the filter plant superintendent.

Typically, the water spends 42 to 68 hours in the silolike tanks, where slow-moving rotors help lift water as the sediment sinks. After the water is decanted at the top, Poklembo said, the sediment is about four percent solid and has a consistency of heavy cream.

It is then mixed with a polymer. The dirt bonds, forming little beads the engineers have nicknamed "ground beef."

Again, the water is decanted and these beads are fed into an auger, which presses the remaining water out, so the mud dumped into the Dumpsters is about 30 percent solid, Poklembo said. Anything drier than that could stop up the process, Hand said.

The decanted water is then fed into a reclamation tank, where it is injected back into the filtration process.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The York Water Co. invests about $6 million a year to replace about six miles of water mains.

The goal, president and CEO Jeff Hines said, is to keep the replacement schedule so no water mains are older than 120 years old, the point at which pipes start to become more likely to fail.

Sometimes, they work on their own.

Other times, York officials will tell the water company they plan to repave a street. If a main under that street is scheduled to be repaired in coming years, Hines said, the water company will move up its spot in the rotation, so the street doesn't have to be torn up twice.

GET A FREE TREE

The York Water Co. will host an open house for its new sediment recycling facility Saturday as part of the Watershed Alliance of York's Watershed Weekend.

Visitors will be able to see the process, learn why it's important and receive a free tree from Strathmeyer Farms, said chief operating officer JT Hand.

Tours will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors should park in the lot at Reservoir Park, 1351 Grantley Road.