In 1987 the Baileys Harbor Town Board consisting of Arwed Barnowsky, Robert “Louie” Oldenburg, and Jim Tishler, decided it was time to protect the environment by having the town start it’s own Wastewater treatment facility. After receiving the proper approvals, grants and designs, the board gave the approval to go ahead with the project. The plant came on line in 1988 located at 2605 Summit Rd next to the Recreation Park. We have a three person committee that oversees the employees operating the plant. Plant personnel can be reached at 920-839-2037.

The Baileys Harbor Waste Water Treatment Facility serves downtown via a sewer system and accepts holding and septic tank waste from haulers. There are 414 connections to the sewer lines in town. These lines are gravity sewer to six lift stations where they are pumped in series to the main lift station located at Anclam Park. From there it is pumped to the plant on Summit Rd.

The plant is an oxidation ditch design with a capacity of 212,000 gallons per day maximum. The waste stream first comes into a fine screen that was just added in 2008. This takes out solid waste or garbage that can not be treated before it goes into the ditch. The two ditches are used to biologically treat the organic waste by having bacteria break it down. Both ditches are used during the summer for more capacity and only the inner covered one is used for winter operation. From here the waste flows into the clarifier. ALUM is added to the stream as it enters. ALUM helps to take phosphorous out of the final effluent and promotes settling of the solids to the bottom of the tank where it is either returned to the beginning of the process to treat more waste coming in or wasted to the digester where it is stored as sludge. The sludge is sent to Sturgeon Bay Utilities for further treatment and the final product is a Class A sludge used for land application as fertilizer. On the top of the clarifier is clear treated water. This water is sent through a last process consisting of Ultra Violet Light Disinfection. Once finished here it flows out by gravity to the mouth of the harbor in Lake Michigan.