| Upgrades to Calgary’s Water Treament Plants will improve
drinking water quality and environmental sustainability
Aerial view of the Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant upgrade showing new Residuals Treatment Facility (building next to overflow lagoon) and the new
Pretreatment Facility under construction (at back).
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In anticipation of the new Alberta Environment Standards for potable water treatment systems, the City of Calgary embarked on comprehensive upgrade studies and piloting at its two water treatment plants in early 2000. As a result of these studies, a number of process upgrades were identified. Due to the size of the water treatment upgrade program, the City decided to adopt a partnership approach with PCL Construction Management Inc. as the Construction Manager and Associated Engineering as the Prime Consultant. Our involvement includes studies, predesign, detailed design, and construction management of upgrades to the Glenmore and Bearspaw Water Treament Plants.The $346 million Glenmore and Bearspaw Water Treatment Plants Upgrades Program was initiated to address three key areas:
- Treated water quality improvements to meet existing and future regulations
- Environmental protection from emissions and plant residuals from the water treatment process
- Capacity upgrade.
Upon completion of the upgrade program, each water treatment plant will have a firm production capacity of 550 million litres per day. The improvements and upgrades at each plant will include the following:
l Pretreatment process upgrade with a new sand ballasted flocculation system
l Filtration system upgrade with new media and stainless steel underdrain system
l New chemical systems for taste and odour control
l Residuals Treatment Facility
l Chlorination system upgrade by replacing gaseous chlorine with sodium hypochlorite (on–site generation)
l Ultraviolet disinfection system.
The completed projects to date include the first phase of the Glenmore Filter Upgrade and Chemical Systems Upgrade.
The Bearspaw Pretreatment Facility will be completed in the summer 2007 and the Bearspaw Stage I Filter Upgrade will be completed in the fall. The Glenmore Sodium Hypochlorite Facility is under construction and scheduled to be completed in December 2007.
The Residuals Treatment Facility is the first of its kind in Western Canada, and the on-site generation of sodium hypoclorite is also the first system to replace gaseous chlorine in Western Canada.
“The Residuals Treatment Facility construction at Bearspaw has been completed and commissioning is in progress,” advises Associated Engineering’s Project Leader Hugh Savage, P.Eng. “When completed the Bearspaw plant will have zero discharge of process waste streams to the Bow River. The plant residuals from water treatment will be treated, dewatered, and the solids sent to a landfill. The supernatant from the treatment process will be recycled.”
The Residuals Treatment Project received the Consulting Engineers of Alberta’s 2007 Award of Merit for Sustainable Design. Congratulations to the project team!
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