As freshwater resources quickly reach their limits in certain locations, the city of Clearwater, Fla., faces increasing pressures to identify and develop additional reliable and sustainable drinking water supplies for its current and future customers.
The city is investigating the feasibility of replenishing a brackish water interval of the Floridian aquifer system with purified water. Tetra Tech Inc. was selected by Clearwater to provide professional engineering services to assist it in determining the technical and financial feasibility of using multi-barrier advanced treatment processes for purification of reclaimed water at a capacity of 3 million gallons per day (MGD).
The purification treatment process includes ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis (RO), advanced oxidation, membrane contactors, and post-treatment stabilization. This overall treatment process adopts the multi-barrier processes used for other indirect potable reuse projects in the U.S. and abroad and also adds dissolved oxygen removal to minimize any potential for metals mobilization in the receiving groundwater.
Tetra Tech assisted Clearwater with the operation of a full advanced treatment process pilot system to purify the reclaimed water. Following one year of operation, the initial phase of pilot testing concluded in June 2014. Services during this one-year operational period included data collection; review of system operations; troubleshooting and recommendations for operational adjustments and membrane cleanings; water quality sampling and monitoring; emerging constituent challenge testing; and support of the city's public education and outreach program.
The project is cooperatively funded by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the city. Clearwater maintains continual coordination with regulatory agencies on policies and rule compliance. To date, the data collected from the pilot operations has demonstrated highly effective performance of this cutting-edge solution to provide sustainable water supplies for the city's future.
Tetra Tech Inc. is an exhibitor at WEFTEC.14 and can be found at Booth 2210. For more information, visit www.tetratech.com.
