VILLAGE PARKS

Cridersville has 4 parks that provide a wide variety of recreational activity for the public to enjoy.

Tower Park, located at the end of Water Street, is the largest park in the village.  It has 5 ball diamonds, a playground with modern equipment, an open air shelter house with picnic tables and outdoor barbeques, rest room facilities, and an enclosed shelter house equipped with a kitchen, table, and chairs.  This shelter house is available for rent on a first come, first serve basis, by contacting the village offices.

Town Pond, located behind the fire house, has a wonderful fishing pond that is catch and release, along with an open air shelter house equipped with picnic tables and outdoor barbeques.

Hinkle Park has a small playground with swings and monkey bars along with shaded grassy areas for your summer picnic.

Philips Nature Trail is a great place to get back to nature.  The path winds around in a wooded area that is located next to town pond.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT 

The Cridersville Wastewater Treatment Plant is a Class III Activated Sludge Plant that was constructed in 1983 replacing a facility that was built in 1965.The plant is designed for 800,000 gallons of wastewater per day and has a current average dry weather flow of approximately 300,000 gallons per day.The plant utilizes both physical and biological processes to break down and reduce the organic waste carried in the water form homes and businesses in the village.

Wastewater is delivered to the plant through a series of several miles of gravity and force main sewers.The process begins with the removal of large debris when the wastewater flows through a bar screen.  Then inorganic materials like stone and sand are removed when the wastewater flows through a grit channel.  The wastewater then flows through a device called a ”Muffin Monster“.  This machine is a grinder that reduces larger organic particles into smaller ones so that the process downstream functions more efficiently.

The wastewater is then pumped into a Primary Sedimentation Clarifier where most of the settleable and suspended solids settle to the bottom.  These solids are drawn off as sludge.  This sludge is then pumped to a tank where it is biologically degraded using a process called Aerobic Digestion.  Air is added to the sludge causing bacteria to reduce the volatile organic content of the sludge to acceptable levels.

The sludge is then pumped to sand drying beds where the excess water percolates and evaporates from the solids.  After drying, the sludge is removed from the beds and paced in a storage facility where it is held until it can be applied to farm ground for fertilizer.

For more information on the land application of sludge, please visit the Ohio EPA, Division of Surface Water’s web page at http://chargin.epa.ohio.gov/programs/sludge/1.html

Once the bulk of the solids have been removed in the primary clarifier, the wastewater, which contains some suspended but mostly dissolved organic pollutants, flows into the Activated Sludge portion of the process.  This consists of a tank where the wastewater is added to vast numbers of microorganisms in a mixture called ”Mixed Liquor“.  Air is added to this mix to sustain the aerobic condition of the bacterium and to insure that the bacterium comes in contact with the waste particles.  After mixing for several hours, in which time the bacterium feed on the organic waste and multiply, the mixed liquor flows from the aeration tank into a secondary clarifier.  In this clarifier the bacterium bunch together to form what is called ”Floc“.  This floc formation becomes heavier than the surrounding waters and settles to the bottom of the clarifier as sludge where it is pumped off and returned to the headwaters of the aeration tank to start the process all over.  A certain portion of this return sludge is wasted to the aerobic digester to maintain a balance of microorganisms to the amount of waste entering the system.

The clear water, called ”Effluent“, flows from the secondary clarifier into 2 Tertiary Lagoons that reduce pathogens in the water and act as a buffer between the plant and the receiving stream.

The process is constantly sampled and monitored to produce an effluent that consistently meets all requirements set forth by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 

WATER TREAMENT PLANT

The Cridersville Water Treatment Plant is a modern Class I Ground Water Treatment facility that is capable of producing 500,000 gallons of potable water daily.  On the average day, current production is around 210,000 gallons per day.The original water plant went on line in the early 1950’s and has been upgraded through the years with the most recent improvement taking place in 2004.

Water is pumped from 4 wells into a forced draft up flow aerator, which removes unwanted gases such as hydrogen sulfide and is the first step in removal of iron from the water. 

The water then enters a reaction basin where Chlorine is added to disinfect the water.  Chlorine is also the second step in the removal of iron.Water is then pumped from the reaction basin through 6 iron pressure filters.  This filter is the final step in the removal of iron that is present in the water.

The water then enters the distribution system, which has several miles of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 inch water mains.  2 water towers, holding a combined 575,000 gallons of water, maintain a constant pressure on the system.

Water quality tests, from chlorine residuals to arsenic and volatile organic compounds, are conducted to insure that the water is safe for consumers.