Recycling to
save Sparta is near By Tom Kelly The first major concrete project to actually preserve ground water in the Sparta aquifer in North Louisiana is within four to six months of going on line, with the promise of relieving up to ten million gallons daily of Sparta water consumption. Completion of the wastewater recycling facility, said to be the only one of its kind in America, is projected for late November, at a total cost of approximately $20 million, with funding from a combination of local city, state, and federal sources. And, it's a double-barrel "win" for the forest products industry in the region, gaining breathing room for the Graphics Packaging paper mill in West Monroe to operate without keeping an eye out for declining water supply which has threatened its continued presence in the area. Graphics Packaging, with home offices in Atlanta, Georgia, employs an average 1,200 directly, and supports over 6,700 other jobs in the area with logging and other timber-related activities. The mill is one of the oldest in the region, beginning life as Brown Paper Company in 1923. Brown Paper Company was the first in America to produce sheet kraft paper and linerboard. The company pioneered numerous packaging machines and paperboard products over the years, first as Brown, then as Olin Mathieson Chemical, Manville Forest Products, and finally Riverwood International. The wastewater recycling progress report was made at the July 21 meeting of the Sparta Groundwater Conservation District by State Senator Robert (Bob) Kostelka, representing Louisiana Senatorial District 35, and Terry Emory, Environmental Quality Manager, in charge of water, wastewater, and stormwater for the City of West Monroe. The meeting was held at the West Monroe Convention Center. Kostelka and Ms. Emory said the facility will collect wastewater from the City of West Monroe, which uses the Sparta aquifer for its municipal supply, and recycle it to "drinkable quality," after which it will be piped directly into the Graphic Packaging (GP) plant, about one mile from the West Monroe treatment plant, for use in the paper manufacturing process. GP uses up to 20 million gallons of water daily, approximately half of which is drawn from the nearby Ouachita river, and half currently from the Sparta aquifer. The drawdown from the Sparta will be replaced by the recycled water. West Monroe's wastewater first enters two 50-acre aeration ponds, located between the river levee and the Ouachita river, south of the GP plant. From the ponds, it will be pumped into a series of specially designed tanks, where residual solids are removed, and the water is brought up the quality standards required by the work of algae and chemical treatment. The purification process was designed by process engineer John Stamberg of Arlington, Virginia. The engineering design for the plant is by Ford, Bacon, & Davis engineers. Construction contractor is Breck Construction of Monroe, with subcontractors Wye Electrical of West Monroe, McInnis Brothers of Minden, Bonner Dirt Contractors of Bastrop. Jerry Lazenby and Associates of West Monroe are engineers for the pipeline from the recycling plant to the GP mill. Clyde Kapp is project engineer for Ford, Bacon, & Davis. The project began with a single demonstration unit erected at the site adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant, which serves the West Ouachita Sewer District No. 5, and the West Monroe municipal sewer. The demonstration was followed by replicating the single unit 12 times, to reach the capacity of ten million gallons per day of recycling. Sen. Kostelka said the Sparta aquifer has three major "cones of depression," resulting from drawdown, one being at the Graphics Packaging plant, the others being the Smurfit-Stone paper mill at Hodge, and the City of Ruston, the major municipal user from the Sparta. Sen. Kostelka, State Representative Jim Fannin of Jonesboro, and U.S. Congressman Rodney Alexander of Jonesboro are due to pay a visit to the RockTenn parent company of Smurfit-Stone, based in Norcross, Georgia, on August 23, to discuss needs of the company, which is another major player in the forest products industry in North Louisiana. The Sparta commission schedules its next meeting in Winnfield on October 20. Commission members are Billy Perritt, Bienville; Rep. Samuel Little, Morehouse; Willie G. Doherty, Winn; John Van Bennett, agriculture; Dr. Ben Lowery, Claiborne; Mack Calhoun, Ouachita; Charles Braddock, Caldwell; George Rolfe, Minden; Olevia McDonald, wood products; Todd Culpepper, Jackson; Dan Morgan Union; Chris Smith, Arcadia; Ted McKinney, Ruston; Jackie Perritt, other industries; Rick Hohlt, Lincoln; Steve Lemmons, Webster; Alice Stewart, Homer; and Terry Emory, West Monroe. |