Aquatic acrobatics: Inside Hillsboro water plant
Staff writer
Monday was a busy day at the Hillsboro water plant.
A hot, windless weekend had created an algae bloom at Marion Reservoir, meaning iron and manganese levels had shot up in the town’s water supply.
Water plant employees —three in total, plus Richard Fine, a retired Agco employee who helps out — learned of the bloom immediately, thanks to a buoy system that measures oxygen levels at the reservoir water intake.
“When we have low oxygen saturation at that interface between the sediment and the water, that is when we start sucking in water that’s high in iron and manganese,” supervisor Morgan Marler said.
Buoys give plant employees the data needed to measure out proper mixtures of chemicals to treat the water.
“From the time it leaves the reservoir, it takes 12 hours to get here, 12 hours through an up-flow clarifier, and then it hits the filters,” Marler said. “We’ve got approximately 24 hours from the time it leaves the reservoir to do some sh-- to it.”
A year ago, before the buoy system had been implemented, the plant received data much later in the day. Staff members went through far more oxidants each week to test for blooms, and sometimes had to come in at 2 a.m. to treat them.
“There are 52 different parameters that are being tested on a minute-by-minute basis for new blooms,” Marler said.
Each parameter can impact what chemicals are used.
Online analyzers continue to test the water as it flows through the plant.
Algal water is treated first with an oxidant, such as permanganate, chlorine dioxide, or (in Marion water plant’s case) ozone.
The oxidant creates a brown “slug” in the water that is later filtered out, taking iron and manganese with it.
Hillsboro’s water plant received $1 million from Kansas Department of Health and Environment as an “emerging contaminant” grant in 2023 and is constantly tinkering with how to better treat blooms.
“We’re trying different types of treatment strategies,” Marler said. “Hopefully, the data that we produce here will be beneficial for other small-surface water treatment systems.”
Water moves through the plant like a maze. First, it is treated with oxidizers in a flash mixer. It then flows into an “upflow clarifier” — a massive, outdoor, globular structure holding 250,000 gallons of water. The plant has two of these.
In the clarifier, more chemicals are mixed in — including activated carbon — and the slug settles at the bottom while clear water rises to the top.
It’s humid inside; the clarifier resembles both a nuclear reactor and a circus tent. The white noise of generators is loud and overwhelming. Employees stick long, clear rods into the water to measure the level and intensity of the slug.
Water skimmed off the top of the clarifier runs back into the main building. It falls through a series of pipes before settling into five rectangular vats, where it is treated and filtered again, downward this time.
The rectangular vats are deep, and employees reach them by climbing an orange staircase to a second level of the plant.
It smelled strongly of chlorine on the second level.
“We’re all totally oblivious to it at this point in our lives,” Marler said.
What looked like dish soap sat on the surface of the water. This was a polymer that latched onto iron and manganese, making it easier to filter out at the bottom.
“If we’re not dealing with iron and manganese, this water, by this stage, is crystal clear,” Marler said.
Finally, the water is sent to two large underground storage reservoirs.
A computer detects when residents turn their taps on and pushes water from the reservoirs to Hillsboro’s water towers to their homes.
The three full-time employees at the water plant are Marler and two young men, Kaleb Spencer and Ayden Brammer. Spencer first was certified in 2022; Brammer, this spring. The team dynamic is close.
“They’re awesome,” Marler said. “I learn something from them every day.”
Spencer knew Brammer when he took the job and said he likes working for the city because it is “very family-oriented.”
The team is often stretched thin, however.
In addition to the water plant, Marler, Spencer, and Brammer manage the sewer system and the water distribution system.
Those aren’t simple tasks, either; 80% of the city’s water distribution mains, Marler said, have been replaced over her 26 years on the job.
The three workers average 350 hours of overtime each per year.
“We probably need to be about a six- or seven-man operation, but we haven’t gotten there yet,” Marler said.
Hiring water operators, as others around the county can attest, isn’t easy.
“There’s not a group of unemployed operators out looking for jobs,” Marler said.
Employees must be hired and trained for at least a year, usually longer, to be certified by the KDHE.
Now in her 26th year at the plant, Marler did not think she would work as a water operator for long.
“When I took this job, it was just a short-term thing that I was going to do until I found something in my field,” she said. “At the time, I was a college professor.”
The department receives assistance from Peabody’s public works department and Hillsboro’s electricians on occasion.
While the plant might be understaffed, it does have a solid budget.
“We have robust support from our council and our administrator,” Marler said. “They’re great about letting us upgrade things, do things ourselves. Especially with Kaleb and Ayden, they like to do experiments and create their own thing. So we try to do a lot of that instead of hiring a contractor to come in and solve our problems.”
Spencer designed and installed an air compressor that keeps wires inside the plant’s control panels from decaying over time.
He and Brammer are working on an improved ammonia feeding system, so the team won’t have to mix bags of powder every day.
Spencer had computer chips scattered around his desk as part of a different repair project; he was trying to fix an actuator controlling one of the many large water pipes.
“I’ve always liked electrical stuff, and then after more time here, everything was automated, so that’s what I’ve liked doing,” he said.
The determination and attitude of the staff keeps Hillsboro’s water plant not only working but thriving.
The plant is considered high-class for its size, and has begun working with the Kansas Biological Survey to sample reservoir water year-round.
Marler, who for years was the only certified employee, spoke about the willpower one needs to become a water operator.
“[Some people] get here, and six months later, they’re like, ‘it’s too much overtime, too much responsibility,’” she said. “It takes the right kind of person, someone who embraces the challenges.”