• Valdosta water treatment plant will accommodate increased need of growing economic hub
VALDOSTA, GA, Sept. 24, 2007 -- At a recent ribbon-cutting event, the city of Valdosta and CDM celebrated the successful completion of the precedent-setting expansion of the Valdosta water treatment plant -- a technologically advanced, design-build effort that has increased the plant's capacity from 15 million gallons per day (mgd) to 22.5 mgd.
Valdosta -- a bustling, historic community in south Georgia, made picturesque through its large azalea population -- is home to extensive manufacturing commercial activity and is finding its population growth expanding at a rapid rate. As such, when the city set off to expand the plant's capacity in 2002, it was taking both a proactive and imperative step to ensuring the delivery of safe, high-quality drinking water for residents and businesses for years to come.
"This $19 million investment has met all of our water treatment goals and has placed us way ahead of any other community in our state," explained Valdosta Director of Utilities Leon Weeks.
These sentiments were matched by Valdosta Mayor John J. Fretti when he said, "This expansion to our water treatment plant solved our supply challenges using the best available treatment systems and technology to ensure the residents and businesses within our city have safe, clean water. The city continues to provide our citizens the best water quality -- an ISO class 1 rating -- at the lowest cost."
Delivered through a design-build process, the project was recently completed on time and under budget, and upgrades were successfully implemented while maintaining existing plant services. CDM partnered with the city to implement:
• two state-of-the-art ozone generators that provide additional treatment without increasing generator operating costs
• an upgrade to the latest in computerized control and communication equipment to streamline everyday operations
• an enhanced, cost-effective, and non-hazardous disinfection strategy, improving security and safety
• new electrical standby generator and fuel tanks that operate with expanded efficiency
• two air-stripping towers and off-gas scrubbers for hydrogen sulfide removal
• new 1.5-million-gallon storage tank and two high-service pumps to meet peak drinking water demands
"These upgrades were successfully implemented while maintaining existing plant services in a manner that our customers never realized construction was under way," commented Larry Hanson, Valdosta's city manager. "I applaud Leon Weeks for his management of this project, the exceptional work of his staff, and the CDM engineers for making our plant a model to other communities.
CDM is a consulting, engineering, construction, and operations firm delivering exceptional service to public and private clients worldwide.
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