With high quality water supply sources becoming more scarce and water demand increasing, we see the water market continuing to trend towards effluent reuse. For example, if you consider the water supply needs of the power industry, we think this trend towards effluent reuse will continue in the foreseeable future. We also think the same can be said for public water supply, particularly in arid regions of the country and other regions where there are water supply constraints. Sustainable water reuse, reclamation, and wastewater treatment engineering projects are positive steps towards using our resources in a cost-effective manner and creating a better planet for the future. Here at Dewberry, we seek to understand our client’s water management drivers and apply solutions that are environmentally sustainable within the cost structure and culture that our clients want.

Water reuse is a key component of sustainable water engineering. Projects like our work on The Noman M. Cole Jr. Pollution Control Plant (NCPCP) and the Rueter-Hess Water Purification Facility reflect our commitment to engineering sustainable water projects that optimize the water supply resource while protecting surface water and ground water quality.

Noman M. Cole, Jr., Pollution Control Plant (NCPCP)

Recently, we completed a $15 million design-build project in Lorton, Virginia, to reuse wastewater effluent as cooling water for a local power plant, which processes municipal solid waste to produce energy and to provide irrigation water for a local golf course and ball fields. Informally known as the “purple pipe” project, we teamed with M.A. Bongiovanni, Inc. to create a reclaimed water distribution system including 450-horsepower pumps, chlorination equipment, an elevated water storage tank, controls and instrumentation, enabling approximately 560 million gallons of treated water from the plant to be reused each year at the nearby Covanta Energy/Resource Recovery Facility and other recreational areas.

The water reclamation project conserves and recycles wastewater treatment plant effluent, with 4.6-miles of distribution piping that originates at NCPCP. This project reduces the amount of nutrients discharged to Pohick Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. The project also conserves 1.5-MGD of drinking water supply for Fairfax Water that was previously used for power plant cooling water and irrigation.

Rueter-Hess Water Purification Facility

To meet the challenge of giving the community of Parker, Colorado, an alternative potable water source, we are designing the first, large-scale potable water treatment facility in the U.S. to use ceramic membrane filter technology. The new Rueter-Hess Water Purification Facility will treat a combination of local surface water, alluvial water, and water recycled from reclamation plants. We plan on expanding the treatment facility from 10-MGD to 40-MGD, which will be located north of the Rueter-Hess Reservoir that is currently under construction.

We will incorporate an innovative re-circulating powdered activated carbon (PAC) system to remove dissolved organic carbon compounds prior to filtration, which will be one of the first of its kind in the nation.

Those are a few examples of the excellent work we are doing here at Dewberry in support of creating a more sustainable environment. Going forward, we will continue to pursue sustainable water projects, utilizing the most current technology, tools, and methods. Water is a vital resource that we are taking steps to conserve by helping communities around the country solve complex water/wastewater issues.