Membrane Treatment Facility

The City of New Brunswick owns and operates a water system that serves a population of approximately 60,000 in the City.  Water is also delivered on a wholesale basis to two adjoining municipalities.  The City’s treatment plant is a conventional surface water treatment facility, with a design capacity of 20 MGD, including raw water pumping, chemical pretreatment, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection.   Filtration facilities include 8 gravity filters and 8 pressure filters.  The pressure filters, installed in the 1930’s, were considered to be obsolete technology for surface water treatment

The City engaged HMM to evaluate alternatives for replacement of the pressure filters, as well as to increase plant capacity.  HMM recommended a membrane filtration, facility which would initially have capacity to replace the pressure filters, with incremental expansion capabilities to replace the gravity filters, and/or increase total plant capacity to as much as 24 MGD.  HMM was then engaged to prepare the detailed design.

Project Highlights:

• Pilot testing of alternative membrane systems, leading to selection of an immersed membrane system Three membrane trains providing an initial capacity of 8 MGD, with provisions to expand to 12 MGD by adding membrane modules to the tanks
• The membrane plant is designed to accommodate the addition of three more trains to allow an ultimate capacity of 24 MGD
• Project design included a new building to house the membrane system and associated pumps, chemical feed systems, backwash facilities and residuals handling facilities
• Design allowed for future conversion of the gravity filters to GAC “polishing” filters, which would work in series with, and downstream of, the membrane filters
• Project included complete replacement of the plant high lift pumping system with a new 24 MGD system
• Project included complete renovation of the existing pressure filter building to house the new pumping system, electrical service, and distribution equipment for the entire plant