2014 Issue

40 T HE PICTURESQUE COMMUNITY of Riverton, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City) was, and still is, expand- ing rapidly and needed to construct a new water reclamation facility to handle its rapidly growing needs. Considerable discussion and negotiation went into de- ciding the location and process selection for the facility. One of the requirements of the project was to make it fit in with the beautiful surrounding landscape; another was to provide for maximumeffluent qual- ity through use of the latest technology in wastewater treatment: membrane bioreac- tors (MBR). The completed facility is one of the largest MBR plants in North America. Bowen Collins & Associates completed Preliminary Planning, Design and Con- Jordan Basin Water Reclamation Facility – A Revolutionary Concept By David Eckhoff, PhD, PE South Valley Sewer District, Draper, Utah struction Management for the new Jordan Basin Water Reclamation Facility, owned and operated by the South Valley Sewer District. Planning for the new facility began in 2002. During the planning stages Bowen Collins & Associates assisted the client in the evaluation and permitting process for several sites, and ultimately obtaining regulatory, local and public approval for a 15- MGDMembrane Bioreactor (M8R) facil- ity, expandable to 30-MGD, on the banks of the Jordan River in Riverton, Utah. The facility design included an Influent Pump Station, a Headworks Building, Process Basins and MBR Buildings, a UV Disinfection Building and a Solids Dewa- tering Facility. In addition, Administration and Maintenance Buildings were included with designs that qualified for LEED certification as “Certified” structures. A joint venture of PCL and Alder Construction began construction on the new facility in August 2009. They began start-up procedures in August 2011, and achieved substan- tial completion in April 2012. Bowen Collins & Associates provided on- site, full-time construction manage- ment services. Garland Mayne still gets emotional when thinking about, or discussing, the new Jordan Basin Water Reclamation Facility in Riverton. That was the case again on Sept. 18, 2012 whenMayne, the facility’s manager, joined members of the South Valley Sewer District Board of Trustees and invited guests for an open house and tour of the facility, located at 13826 South Jordan Basin Lane (1300 West). “This has been a 10-year project,” said Wayne Ballard, chairman of the trustees. “Getting to this point has had its moments of fighting an uphill battle.” The district first proposed a facility for the southwest part of Salt Lake County on 40 acres of land off 10600 South. Ballard said the district has fought the “not in my backyard” chal- lenge with homeowners on several fronts. As the population in the district’s member communities continued to grow, so did the plans for a reclamation campus that could meet their needs. That’s when the current location was chosen. “It’s been a tense process, but what we now have is a facility that came together with very few problems,” Mayne said. The district serves the cities of Bluffdale, Draper, Herriman, Riverton, South Jordan, the southern portion of Sandy, unincor- porated Copperton and a small portion of West Valley City. In all, close to 58,000 Image Source - Bowen Collins & Associates