Miami-Dade earns DBIA award for wastewater treatment plant improvements

Oct. 19, 2015
The Brown and Caldwell/Poole & Kent design-build team recently announced that it has joined Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department to celebrate its first award from the Design-Build Institute of America, Florida Region.

WALNUT CREEK, CA, Oct. 19, 2015 -- The Brown and Caldwell/Poole & Kent design-build team recently announced that it has joined Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department to celebrate its first award from the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), Florida Region.

Miami-Dade's innovative co-generation facility improvements project at the South District Wastewater Treatment Plant is being recognized in DBIA's Water/Wastewater category for exemplary collaboration and integration in the design-build project delivery method.

Brown and Caldwell, along with its design-build partner Poole & Kent, replaced the department's existing co-generation system with state-of-the-art equipment that generates almost three times the amount of electrical capacity without discharging additional air pollutants.

This is one of the first co-generation systems of this size (8 Mw) that is capable of using three different types of fuel feedstocks (digester, landfill and natural gas) in an infinitely variable mix. The project was completed on schedule and within budget, providing about $965,000 in electrical cost savings to the district.

In 2011, Miami-Dade discovered that methane gas produced at the landfill adjacent to its South District facility, coupled with digester gas produced within the plant (and natural gas when required), could significantly cut back the amount of electric power imported from the grid, reducing the facility's reliance on fossil-fuel-produced electricity.

The department opted for the design-build delivery method to tap into the expected economic benefits quickly, while avoiding its continued use of imported electrical power and to meet the requirements of an imminent consent decree.

The Brown and Caldwell team collaborated to design and build this complex and ambitious project without interrupting service. Keeping the facility online was imperative because the plant used its existing co-generation units to maintain heat in the digesters.

The company was ideally suited to partner with Poole & Kent because of its design-build experience and long-standing ties. This relationship fostered an effective partnership and collaborative mindset to execute a project with significant scheduling, technical and safety challenges.

Brown and Caldwell reviewed the design criteria, provided innovative Value Engineering ideas and developed a Preliminary Design Development Report, which became the basis of design throughout the construction period.

See also:

"Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department awards MWH Global WWTP rehabilitation contract"

"Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department to receive Woolpert engineering services"

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