Case Study: The Rehabilitation Of 43-Year-Old Waste Lagoons

In 1967 the City of Concordia, MO built a segmented lagoon system to handle the small town’s waste requirements. The main industry in Concordia is a Tyson renderings plant, and the lagoon system was designed to also handle that plant’s final waste and water polishing requirements. The lagoon system was a relatively standard design, consisting of an 18.7 acre primary lagoon, a 5.6 acre secondary, and a 3.2 acre final lagoon. All lagoons average 6 feet in depth, with the final outfall being received by a southeasterly flowing Panther Creek. A number of vertical spray aerators were placed in the primary lagoon in order to provide water turnover and dissolved oxygen (DO) to the system.