![Upgrade on the Fly](https://cole-tpomag.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tpomag.com%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Fne_wwtp_04.jpg?crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=620&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=75&w=1024&s=cb57055f14405a6c978e5a2143a066e1)
The team at the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant includes, from left, Mikeal Farr, senior plant operator/shift supervisor; Shane Eckard, Brandon Burdett and Sabine Wagner, operators; Doug Kirby, heavy equipment operator; Keith Rhyne, plant superintendent; Lonnie Laird, Randy Keene and Paul Solomon II, operators; John Sain, maintenance worker; and Heidi Fox, operator.
It was a little like trying to put on a new shirt while removing the old one, without baring any skin in the process.
As part of a major facelift in 2012, the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant in Hickory, North Carolina, had to upgrade and improve all its old processes without...