Earth Day- Kandahar style

In observance of Earth Day, the Kandahar Project Delivery Platform takes pride in the operation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has been in operation for a few days now.

The Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A)-funded Wastewater Treatment Plant supports 3500 personnel at the Kandahar Air Wing (KAW) and 360 personnel at the SMW (Special Mission Wing).

The official turnover of the completed project by the contractor to the Customers and ultimately those who will benefit from the use of this commercial waste water treatment plant will take place in the near future.

Though the focus is on the treatment plant itself additional work was done to include a new 15kv electrical feed to the plant that was installed and supported by the SMW power plant. There are also four Lift Stations that bring the waste from the SMW and KAW to the plant. And there was a new 300 meter deep well installed with three new water tanks to also support the growth of the site.

The first stage of treatment is the Head Works. “This is like a trash rack that collects any heavy objects that may have been flushed to the plant, such as rocks,” said Jim Fielden, Electrical Engineering Technician, USACE Kandahar.

He went on to say that the Aeration Ponds are the second stage of treatment. “They stir (aerate) the waste to allow the aerobic bacteria to break down the waste,” he said.

Each of these three ponds breaks the waste down even more. The first one having eight aerators, the second having four, and the third with two.

Fielden went on to describe that in between the Aeration Ponds and the Settling Ponds, there is a valve that can return any incomplete material back through the Head Works to be treated again. The heavy solids are sent to the Drying beds where moisture will evaporate and the dried solids can be collected and disposed of.

And the third step in the process is the Settling Ponds. They are for separating the medium solids from liquids. Liquids flow over the top and are sent to the Chlorine Contact tank and the medium solids are sent back to the Head Works.

The process is cyclical and gets repeated until the liquid released from the Contact tank is clear.

Not only does the treated water keep the environment clean but it is returned to the local farmers supporting them in their irrigation processes.