3/3/2008 12:03:00 AM
Water treatment facility cleans up with award
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| Tim Williams, water treatment superintendent for the City of Delphos, talks about the new water treatment system. The city recently won an award for the new design, which was completed by Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. (Jill DeWert/Times Bulletin) |
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For many decades, residents of the City of Delphos were subjected to hard water with lots of sulfur. Previously, there were nine wells that serviced the municipality with water that had a hardness of 550 parts per million (ppm). That number was recently reduced to about 120 to 130 ppm.
A new state-of-the-art water treatment system went online in October of 2007. The system utilizes a new above-ground reservoir, sludge recirculation to enhance treatment efficiency and advanced granular activated carbon and ultraviolet disinfection technologies to remove trace organics and microbial contaminants.
The Delphos Water Treatment Plant was presented the Honor Award for the design of the system on February 20 in Columbus for the 2008 Engineering Excellence Awards Competition, which is sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Ohio. The design of the new plant was completed by Malcolm Pirnie, Inc.
Although the system is new, the idea was not, according to Safety/Service Director Gregory Berquist.
"I have a memo that's 42 years old that says Delphos should have a reservoir and another water supply, so we have been at least thinking about it for quite some time," said Berquist. "It was almost four years ago that the City of Delphos decided to get serious about water issues."
The process began by applying for and receiving money from the State of Ohio to conduct studies regarding the practicality of an above-ground system. After determining it was a viable solution, they began to seek federal money, and ended up receiving $3.9 million dollars to build the reservoir, Berquist said.
"We were really fortunate and really pleased in getting that kind of money," said Berquist.
In planning the design, officials took into consideration probable future requirements to be made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and regional initiative for both surrounding municipalities and possible future industries locating in or near Delphos.
"If we were to build something strictly for the City of Delphos, it would be a different system," commented Berquist. "We built the reservoir as a regional reservoir and we built the water treatment plant with the capacity to handle outside interest."
Berquist said the city has been talking with several municipalities about the possibility of Delphos selling water within Putnam, Van Wert and Paulding counties. The system is too far from Lima or Ottawa, and the City of Van Wert is on its own system, but Berquist said there is a void they are trying to fill and it has to do with economic development. In addition to adding extra features that will be required in about four years, they also punched two extra holes under U.S. 30 for treated water delivery and receiving wastewater, in case an industry would locate on the opposite side of the highway.
"Water today has a value and in the next 15 or 20 years, water will have the same value of oil, because if you have water, you have the capacity for industry," said Berquist. "We look at water as being a valuable resource. We're planning for the future."
Demolition of old and construction of new began in April of 2006 and the plant went online on October 11, 2007. The new plant was built in the same location as the old and there were a few things that were able to be kept, including the pumps to distribute the water.
"We saved an excess of a million dollars by not going somewhere else, not even including the cost of the pumps," said Berquist.
Less the cost of the reservoir, the project cost about $15 million dollars. The city was able to receive low-interest loans. Part of the cost is under a zero percent loan since a portion of the city qualifies for low to moderate income.
Residents are now able to get rid of their water softeners and use less soap and detergent. Industries in Delphos are seeing less scaling and the water is easier on equipment, said Berquist.
"Before, food industries had to process our water before they could use it as product in their product," said Berquist. "If they're saving money, we're hoping they're investing that money back into their industry and that helps Delphos and the region also."
One surprise savings the city has encountered is a noticeable difference in the cost of processing wastewater. They had expected a savings, but not something so noticeable.
"We don't have a real number yet, but we're using fewer chemicals because we're not processing the heavy metals," commented Berquist.
Rumor has it that the city's treated wastewater is drinkable and it's true, although no one has actually tested the theory by drinking it.
"They say it's drinkable. What we put into Jennings creek is cleaner than what is in the creek," said Berquist.
The water is so clean that a study is being conducted to see if the treated wastewater could be pumped back into the reservoir instead of the creek.
"What we're looking at now with the wastewater study, is can we actually reduce some of the disinfection requirements that we're doing and is it possible to create a closed-loop system," said Berquist. "The answer is, we'll know in three years. We have a high suspicion that what we're discharging could go straight back into the reservoir and be processed back through."
When the wastewater plant was built, the city also looked toward future requirements and possibilities. That plant is operating at about 65 percent load capacity and could take on wastewater from anywhere in a 10 mile radius.
The new water treatment plant is operating at about a quarter of its capacity.
"Did it cost the city a little extra money to do this now? Yes. But, in the backside of it, we won't be paying for it in four more years," said Berquist. "It's getting it done now in anticipation. The value to that is our water quality is the best in the region. We really do have top-quality water."
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