Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant

Main Office Phone: (919) 537-4350

• Located on Old Mason Farm Road in southeast Chapel Hill, our Mason Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in 1948 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• The plant can treat up to 14.5 million gallons of wastewater per day (average over a month) before recycling it into Morgan Creek, a tributary of Jordan Lake. Jordan Lake is a water source for several communities in the region. In 2007-08, we treated an average of 7.4 million gallons of wastewater per day. (Major storms can result in much higher flows to the Mason Farm plant.)

• We treat wastewater with biological, physical and chemical processes including filtration and disinfection with ultraviolet light.

• The solid particles separated from wastewater in our treatment process are treated and converted into "biosolids," which are used to help grow crops for non-human consumption on State-approved farmland in accord with Federal and State standards.  A private company also uses some of our biosolids to make a soil conditioner for use in landscaping.

• In 2003, we began a series of odor elimination improvements at the Mason Farm Plant including covering various facilities and treating foul air from them. Additional odor elimination improvements are planned in 2009 and 2010.

• TO REPORT ODOR FROM OUR PLANT, PLEASE CONTACT OUR MASON FARM WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT HOTLINE, 537-4376.

• For more information, or if you are interested in a tour of the Mason Farm plant, please contact us at (919) 537-4350 or webmaster@owasa.org.