The Village of Gilberts, IL Achieves Wastewater Requirements with the 

Help of Baxter & Woodman’s Innovative Pre-Treatment System Design

Harry Harman, P.E. of Baxter & Woodman, consulting 

Engineers, received a call from an official with the 

Village of Gilberts in the State of Illinois. The call was 

a request for a review of documents from the EPA to 

the Village regarding the 5 year renewal of the Village’s 

National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 

Permit. The Permit, is a set of standards developed by 

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the 

management of wastewater contaminant concentrations 

allowed to be discharged into streams and rivers by 

industry and public wastewater treatment facilities by 

cities, villages, and townships. Upon review of the report, 

Harry immediately noticed a more stringent limit on the 

permissible levels of Barium. There were no treatment 

systems available which would remove the Barium without 

exceeding the recently enacted Radium limits established 

by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency – Division 

of Nuclear Safety.