Installation of WavTex Modules at Hamler WWTP
Tucked into the flat farmland of northwest Ohio, about an hour’s drive from Toledo, this small village is home to fewer than 1,000 residents. Like many rural communities in the region, its wastewater system had long done its job quietly. But increasing flows and organic loadings had outpaced what the existing lagoon system could reliably handle, and a more comprehensive upgrade was needed, especially for support during the colder winter months.
The project’s first step was constructing a new post-aeration tank, as the existing one was too undersized for their needs. Along with Jones & Henry Engineers, the Village of Hamler utilized a threefold approach to expanding the plant’s capacity: increasing the volume of the two existing lagoons, adding two new lagoon cells, and constructing a new post-lagoon Submerged Filex-Film (SFF) system for ammonia polishing. In March 2025, with the new on-shore tank in place, the site was ready for installation of three Entex Technologies WavTexTM fixed-film modules. While WavTex is well-suited for in-lagoon retrofits, the Village opted for a standalone on-shore tank, giving plant personnel easy access to the WavTex modules all in one place, with localized blowers and a constant water depth.
WavTex modules feature EnTextile media sheets with abundant attachment surface area designed to support the biomass needed for enhanced BOD and ammonia removal. The system was designed for a flow of 0.113 MGD, with effluent targets of less than 10 mg/L BOD and ammonia limits of less than 4.2 mg/L in winter and less than 1.3 mg/L in summer, reflecting the stricter nitrification demands of warmer months.
Assumed Influent and Effluent for Design Basis
Each WavTex module includes an integrated coarse bubble aeration grid that supplies oxygen for biological treatment while scouring the media to slough off excess biomass, keeping the system self-regulating and efficient without added operator burden.
That low operational footprint matters enormously for a village of this size, where a small operations team is responsible for the entire plant. The WavTex system requires little to no additional manpower or maintenance, and with WavTex providing the microbiology for BOD removal and nitrification, the system is designed to deliver consistent performance for 20 years and beyond.
This project illustrates an important dimension of SFF technology: while it excels as a retrofit solution for communities looking to squeeze more performance out of existing infrastructure, it is equally at home in new construction, ready to deliver from day one when the situation calls for building fresh.