Mentone, Indiana

Mentone’s SAGR system consists of two gravel beds each capable of handling 100% flow in the summer in the rare case that maintenance would have to be performed within a single bed. No changes were made to the facultative lagoons infrastructure. In Mentone, no aeration was required in the lagoons to meet the recommended lagoon effluent BOD5 feeding the SAGR process. The upgrade was completed without acquiring additional land, or taking either of the existing lagoon cells off-line.

 

The blowers for the SAGR are sized to meet the oxygen requirements for nitrification and final BOD polishing only. This translates to significant energy savings that would otherwise be required to run blowers for a conventional aerated lagoon system. It is estimated that 50% energy savings are realized with this design compared to other systems achieving similar effluent quality. The trade-off is the higher lagoon footprint required for the necessary residence time. Since the capacity was available at the onset of the system design, utilizing the existing infrastructure was deemed the most cost effective approach. Utilizing the existing lagoons provided cost savings both in the construction and long term operation and maintenance of the system.