WICHITA FALLS, Texas, Jan. 30, 2002 -- The city of Wichita Falls will be the location of USFilter's largest North American submerged microfiltration system. The Memcor® CMF-S (Continuous Microfiltration - Submerged) system will produce 14 million gallons of water per day and apply chlorine resistant PVdF membranes to purify the city's surface water.
Located in the Northwest region of Texas, the city of Wichita Falls required a new water treatment system for its Lake Kemp water source due to the high concentration of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and chloride.
Raw water will be pumped over 7 miles from Lake Kemp to the new treatment plant where it will be clarified, microfiltered and then processed in a reverse osmosis system for the city's estimated 145,000 residents. Currently, the city purifies its water using lime softening and anthracite. The new CMF-S process will supplement this existing system.
According to Scott Taylor, city engineer for Wichita Falls, "The CMF-S system allows us to treat a lake that we could not treat conventionally for drinking water."
The city also experienced problems after a drought limited water availability. Steven M. Jones, project manager for Biggs and Mathews, the city's consulting engineering firm on the project said that microfiltration will allow other resources to be used for drinking water.
"Memcor technology allows the development of what had previously been an irrigation resource into a potable water supply," said Jones.
The $3.5 million system will consist of five cells operating in parallel with membranes submerged in concrete tanks. Plant construction is scheduled to begin next Spring with an expected completion date of April 2003.
USFilter, a Vivendi Environnement company, is North America's largest water company providing comprehensive water and wastewater systems and services to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers.
Vivendi Environnement (NYSE:VE), comprised of Vivendi Water (worldwide water products and services), Onyx (solid waste and industrial services), Dalkia (energy management), and Connex (transportation and logistics), is the largest environmental services company in the world with more than 215,000 employees in 100 countries and annual revenues of nearly $25 billion. Visit the company's web sites at www.usfilter.com or www.vivendienvironnement-finance.com.
