ICS creates wastewater solution for OHSU medical building
• Intelligent Community Services is designing and building a membrane bioreactor to treat wastewater for the new South Waterfront Medical Office Building of Oregon Health & Science University.
PORTLAND, OR, June 21, 2006 -- Intelligent Community Services (ICS) -- a Beaverton, OR-based corporation specializing in niche utility solutions, commercial and residential system integration, and infrastructure design and implementation -- is providing an innovative wastewater treatment for the new South Waterfront Medical Office Building of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).
ICS is designing, building, and permitting a membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) within the 400,000-sq.-ft. medical office building and laboratory. This is the first of two OHSU buildings to be served by the Membrane Bio-Reactor WWTP. The two medical office buildings will be connected to OHSU's main campus, located on the hill to the west, by tram.
The WWTP will produce high-quality (DEQ Level IV) reuse water that will be used on-site for irrigation, water closets, and cooling-tower makeup water. Upon completion, this WWTP will be the first of its kind located in a commercial facility on the West Coast. By deploying an on-site WWTP, OHSU avoided connecting to the Portland Sewer System, paid a greatly reduced City of Portland System Development Charge, and dramatically reduced its potable water demand for the building.
Benefits to Portland, OHSU, and environment include:
• OHSU saves money for City of Portland System Development Charges.
• Reuse of WWTP effluent reduces potable water costs by 60%.
• OHSU is not affected by rapidly increasing sewer costs.
• The WWTP project qualifies for Oregon Business Energy Tax Credits.
• The WWTP reserves capacity in the City's overstressed collection system for other users.
• The WWTP preserves capacity at the City's Columbia Boulevard WWTP for future connections
• Excess water from the facility will be blended with on-site groundwater for eventual discharge to the Willamette River to help lower summertime river temperatures.
Other Facts:
• The South Waterfront Medical Office Building is the first large-scale building to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design's Platinum, in North America.
• The WWTP costs $1.2 million to build.
• WWTP effluent meets the highest standards for reuse, established by DEQ (Level IV).
• The simple payback from both initial and operational savings is 1.8 years.
Once operational, OHSU will own the WWTP, while ICS will operate and maintain the facility. The projected completion date of the South Waterfront building is Fall 2006.
ICS originated in 2004 as a result of combining the skill sets, experience, and relationships of three separate business entities: ARAS Systems Inc., Vision Engineering and Mattsson Environmental Solutions, Inc. It's a single-source, high-end provider of essential technology services, value-added fiber optic infrastructure solutions and waste water treatment.
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