Pocatello’s Water Pollution Control plant gets new disinfection system

Pocatello’s Water Pollution Control Department has a new water disinfection system that uses ultraviolet light.

The old disinfection system used chlorine gas to clean the waste water before it goes into the Portneuf River.

The new system uses ultraviolet light, which kills any bacteria or viruses as the water passes under the lights.

The superintendent of the water pollution control center, Jon Herrick, said this new system is more beneficial.

“The UV system is a lot more safe than the chlorine system,” Herrick said. “We don’t have the hazards from the chemicals like we had before.”

“We used to have 11 1-ton cylinders of chlorine gas and seven 1-ton cylinders of sulfur dioxide,” he said. “So that was 1 ton of gas, 2,000 pounds in each cylinder.”

And if those chemicals were leaked, it would be dangerous for anyone near the plant. The new UV system eliminates that hazard.

The UV system cost about $1.5 million and was paid for by a city bond.

Herrick said the chlorine system needed money put into it for upgrades and improvements. He said the department decided to put the money toward a new, and safer, system instead.

Included in the cost of the bond was a new building to house the UV system. While some construction is still being finished on the new building, Herrick said the UV process is up and running smoothly.

“It’s working very well so far,” Herrick said. “No issues with any bacteria passing down through the waste water and into the river.”