Need more capacity?
Supplement the existing aeration system rather than immediately replacing it.
Need greater process flexibility?
Control oxygen delivery independently from the motive flow providing mixing and circulation.
Can’t take the ditch offline?
Install new capacity while maintaining treatment and create a practical path toward phased rehabilitation.
Need a solution without starting an entirely new design from scratch?
Begin with a pre-engineered platform and configure it for the ditch, loading, and process requirements.
Sometimes an oxidation ditch doesn’t need to be replaced.
It simply needs more oxygen, better control, or a better way to use the infrastructure that’s already there.
Expand Oxidation Ditch Capacity…Without Interrupting Treatment
Oxidation ditches are built for long service lives—and many are now being asked to treat flows and biological loads well beyond their original design conditions. Increasing flows, higher organic or ammonia loading, changing discharge requirements, and limited process control can leave existing aeration infrastructure undersized or increasingly difficult to operate. At the same time, aging brush rotors, disc aerators, surface aerators, and other legacy equipment can become increasingly expensive to maintain.
For many facilities, replacing or expanding the aeration system presents an even bigger challenge: The ditch cannot simply be taken out of service while the work is completed.
The ClearFlo™ DitchDr™ provides a flexible retrofit solution designed specifically for operating oxidation ditches. Built around ClearStream’s ClearFlo™ jet aeration technology, the DitchDr™ can supplement existing aeration equipment where additional oxygen-transfer, mixing capacity, or process control is needed—or provide a practical path toward aeration-system replacement where maintaining continuous treatment is critical.
Pre-Engineered for Speed. Configured for Your Ditch.
Every oxidation ditch is different. Width, depth, geometry, existing aeration equipment, available installation locations, and treatment requirements vary from plant to plant.
But every retrofit doesn’t need to start from scratch.
The DitchDr™ is built around a pre-engineered, modular design platform. Standard jet nozzle sizes, established header configurations, commercially available submersible pumps and blowers, and a bridge-mounted equipment arrangement provide proven building blocks that can be configured to meet the requirements of a specific ditch.
ClearStream then applies project-specific process and hydraulic design to determine the appropriate configuration for the application—including oxygen-transfer requirements, mixing needs, jet arrangement, motive flow, airflow, and equipment sizing.
The result is a system that is standardized where standardization saves time, but customized and engineered where the process requires it.
This approach avoids treating every oxidation ditch retrofit as a completely new equipment-development project. By beginning with an established platform, the DitchDr™ can streamline design, equipment selection, fabrication, and supply while still being configured around the site’s actual process requirements.
Add Capacity Without Abandoning Existing Infrastructure
An oxidation ditch that needs more aeration capacity does not necessarily need an entirely new aeration system.
Existing brush rotors, discs, or other equipment may still have useful service life but no longer provide sufficient oxygen-transfer or mixing capacity under current or peak loading conditions.
The DitchDr™ allows facilities to augment the infrastructure they already have. Supplemental jet aeration can be installed alongside existing aeration equipment to increase available oxygen transfer and mixing while the existing system remains in operation.
This makes the DitchDr™ particularly useful as a capacity-expansion tool: add what the biological process needs without necessarily replacing equipment that still has value.
Jet Aeration Adds Process Control
At the heart of the DitchDr™ is ClearStream’s ClearFlo™ jet aeration technology.
A submersible pump supplies motive liquid to the submerged jet header, while a separate blower supplies air to the jet aerators. The resulting two-phase jet provides the oxygen transfer and mixing energy needed to support the biological process.
Importantly, the two functions can be controlled independently. The motive flow provides hydraulic mixing and circulation, while airflow can be adjusted to respond to changing oxygen demand without sacrificing the mixing required to maintain circulation and solids suspension.
For an oxidation ditch, this is an important distinction. The process doesn’t always need maximum oxygen transfer—but it still needs reliable circulation and mixing.
Rather than simply adding fixed aeration capacity, the DitchDr™ provides operators with another tool for responding to changing biological conditions and managing the process.
A Practical Path for Aeration Replacement
For single-ditch facilities—or plants with limited redundant treatment capacity—traditional aeration replacement can create a difficult sequencing problem.
Existing equipment may need to be removed before new equipment can be installed, yet the basin is still required for treatment.
The DitchDr™ is designed to minimize that disruption. Its modular, bridge-supported configuration can be prefabricated and efficiently installed directly into the existing ditch.
That creates an opportunity for phased rehabilitation: new aeration and mixing capacity can be established while existing equipment remains available, reducing the operational risk associated with replacing critical treatment infrastructure.
For a facility that cannot simply shut down an oxidation ditch for rehabilitation, the ability to establish new capacity first can fundamentally change how an upgrade is approached.
Designed Around the Reality of an Operating Plant
The DitchDr™ brings these concepts together in a retrofit platform designed around some of the most common challenges facing existing oxidation ditches.