ITT Industries will provide the Wedeco ultraviolet disinfection system for the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant, located in the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) of British Columbia, Canada.
The GVRD, which is a partnership of municipalities that make up the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, operates the Greater Vancouver Water District, which serves a population of approximately two million people. Up to 70% of the district’s drinking water is taken from the Seymour and Capilano watersheds, located in the North Shore Mountains. High levels of turbidity prevent the water from meeting federal guidelines and inadequate primary disinfection of the water source. A new filtration plant is scheduled to open in 2007 near Rice Lake, approximately 11 kilometres from the Seymour reservoir.
Following filtration, the new plant will use ultraviolet light as a primary disinfectant. Sodium hypochlorite will be used as a secondary disinfectant to further protect drinking water as it travels through the distribution process.
Twenty-three individual UV units have been ordered for installation in the filter pipe gallery, each rated for a maximum flow of 24.84 million gallons per day (mgd), and a total flow capacity of 571 mgd. One additional system may be added at a future date. SSBV Consultants, Inc. of Vancouver, a company jointly owned by Black & Veatch Corporation, Stantec, and AMEC developed the design and bid documents for the filtration plant. The bid process for selecting the UV system included a life cycle cost evaluation in which the initial capital cost of the UV equipment was combined with the present value of site-specific operation and maintenance costs over the 20-year projected life.
