Octoraro water treatment plant improvements
At a glance
The Octoraro Water Treatment Plant (WTP) pretreatment project was recognized with a Diamond Award Certificate for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania.
The challenge
Located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the Chester Water Authority's 60 mgd Octoraro WTP is a conventional surface water filtration plant. The plant treats water from the Octoraro Reservoir and/or raw water from the reservoir supplemented with raw water pumped from the Susquehanna River.
The USD5.7 million pretreatment project included:
- Construction of a new blend tank upstream of the plant headworks for thorough mixing of the source waters, providing uniform raw water quality
- Modifications to clearwell flumes to ensure compliance with the chlorine contact time requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act
- Upgraded sedimentation basins with inclined plate settlers, providing laminar flow conditions between plates and improving basin performance under a wide variety of conditions
- A new filter influent flume system and filter top mixer to allow chemicals to be effectively added to the settled water, providing uniform water quality to the filters
This award-winning pretreatment project resulted in improved plant performance, compliance with regulatory authorities, and enhanced quality of water leaving the facility.
The Authority recently completed the requirements for the fourth and final phase of the Partnership for Safe Water Treatment Program and demonstrated the highest possible level of turbidity performance. The Octoraro WTP is one of only 12 facilities in the USA to achieve this status.