I have to be honest with you; this isn’t one of my typical blogs and might be considered more of an advertisement for our
Activated Sludge Toolkit. I am not concerned that you might think this because, the bottom line, we are here to help you solve problems. Additionally, I must confess, for the first time I used ChatGPT to summarize my notes and create this blog post. It's pretty amazing how much these tools help to speed up the process. In Winter of 2025, during a few particularly cold weeks in February, many of our wastewater operators contacted us with concerns about their activated sludge systems.
In response to these issues, March of 2025, Watertech developed the Activated Sludge Operator Toolkit—a comprehensive and targeted set of solutions designed to restore and optimize biological treatment performance using proven chemistry and technologies. Similar to AI, the Toolkit is not a replacement for doing the work, but it is a resource designed to help streamline the product selection process and find the best solution. When one of our customers had a change in their process causing septicity and associated hydrogen sulfide H2S gas production. We “opened up” our toolkit, prescribed our O2-BOOST-OR™, fed it into the EQ tank and eliminated the stink. The Toolkit helped identify the best product to provide a quick resolution for this customer's challenge.
Toolkit Components:
- BIO-ACTIV-8-ORTM (Food:Mass): Freeze-dried Bacillus bacteria to rebuild microbial mass quickly after upsets.
- BOD-BOOST-ORTM (Food:Mass): Rapid carbon source for boosting food levels during low production periods.
- O2-BOOST-ORTM (O2): Instant oxygen to support respiration, reduce odors, and promote EPS production.
- NITRO-BOOST-ORTM (C:N:P): Nitrogen supplement to balance nutrients at the ideal 100:5:1 ratio.
- ZYME-BACTM (Bioaugmentation): Lipase enzymes to break down fats, oils, and grease (FOG).
- QUAT NEUTRALIZERTM (Sanitation): your company switched sanitation vendors and they overuse quaternary ammonium compounds, killing your Mass.
- WT-4000 DECHLORTM (Sanitation): A tote of 12.5% sodium hypochlorite sprung a leak and you have 275-gallons headed down to your aeration basin.
- NEW - EPS-BOOST-ORTM (Nanofloc): A 5-nanometer iron oxide nano sized flocculant that mimics bacterial EPS—enhancing sludge settling, improving SVI, supporting dewatering, and increasing dissolved oxygen. Especially valuable in cold weather conditions.
We look forward to helping you optimize your biological treatment systems and navigate seasonal challenges with confidence. For personalized support or more information, contact Watertech and request a site survey.
Chris Fox
Director of Business Development - Wastewater
Chris has spent the last 30+ years in the water and wastewater treatment industry. A former equity partner and small business owner, he has held positions in sales, management, marketing and business development for global and regional companies. He received his bachelor's from St. Norbert College in Environmental Science and Biology.