Treatment Plant History

After creation of The Gary Sanitary District in 1938, The Board of Sanitary Commissioners initiated a construction program that included several interceptors and a wastewater treatment plant. This original plant was placed in service, at the present site, in 1940. The treatment facility was an activated sludge process designed to provide secondary treatment, with nominal capacity of 20 million gallons per day (MGD) to 40 millions gallons per day (MGD)Expansion and improvements began in 1962 to increase the treatment capacity of the plant.

Major construction followed in 1970, 1973, 1975, and 1982 (73-E,74-B&C,74-D, 77-A and 82-C-3). These projects basically dealt with the treatment plant. Projects 82-B (Divisions 1,2 and 3), 91-23, 91-AA, 91-CC, 91-DD3, 91-C-1&2,91-FF3, 91-J3, 91-GG-3 were formulated in 1991 and dealt with the lift stations, regulators and the sewer system(Black Oak) all of which were to satisfy the items in the Modified Consent Decree of 1990 that addressed combined sewer overflows. The combined total of all the projects since 1962 comes to approximately $150,000,000.00 dollars. The total asset value is over $400,000,000.00 dollars.