Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) & Riviera Utilities – Wolf Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility

The City of Foley and surrounding areas have experienced rapid growth over the last several years, with few signs of slowing down. The Wolf Creek Treatment Facility began to stress due to the tightening of regulations on water quality in local receiving streams. In 2016, Riviera Utilities and Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) linked arms to begin the Wolf Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility project.

The project’s main objective was to accommodate future growth by providing additional treatment capacity and meet the demands of ever-increasing regulations. The project also wanted to support the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program and the Wolf Bay Watershed Management Plan’s goals to preserve and improve its water quality.

Before starting the project, Riviera Utilities recognized that infrastructure investment would be substantial, and the design should achieve future goals. It was also imperative that the design and construction illustrate Riviera Utilities’ commitment to clean water on the Gulf Coast. Because Wolf Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility’s receiving stream, Wolf Creek, discharges into Wolf Bay, these improvements have the potential to positively impact the critical ecosystems on the Gulf Coast for years to come.

The team chose AquaNereda® Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) technology because it can produce high-quality effluent and enhanced biological nutrient removal while consuming less real estate and energy. AGS also reduces settling time, thus minimizing its footprint by up to 75% and decreasing energy consumption by almost 50%. [Resource: Water World]

“We were honored to work alongside Riviera Utilities and the Aqua-Aerobics team to implement the first Nereda design in North America,” said Denise King, PE, Project Manager for Goodwyn Mills Cawood. “The Nereda Aerobic Granular Sludge Process utilized at the Wolf Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility is the first-of-its-kind in the U.S., providing an efficient and sustainable biological treatment process to improve and protect the water quality of the Wolf Bay Watershed in Alabama.”

The process was challenging due to the site’s limited space and their need to continue operating throughout the implementation. GMC and Riviera Utilities completed the project in the summer of 2020. Through hard work and perseverance, this project shows how committed both Goodwyn Mills Cawood and Riviera Utilities are to pushing utilities to the limits to protect our coastal environment.