| New PTR Facility Nears Completion
Scott Minor, Assistant Superintendent
The District's new multi-purpose pumping, treatment and recycling facility, or PTR for short, began recycling filtration backwash water by May 1, 2006 as planned. "I couldn't be more pleased with our progress thus far", reported District Superintendent Norm Labbe, recognizing the lightning pace and collaborative effort required to meet the May 1st goal. Labbe also noted the substantial cost savings realized by utilizing District personnel throughout the project...."This is a very involved project and we've got a great group of talented people here who have saved the ratepayers several hundred thousand dollars with all the work we have done in-house." Aside from some soils and structural analysis by outside consultants, the entire $1.1 M project ($785,000 for the PTR facility and $315,000 of related work) was designed, engineered, and administered in-house. Although the building shell was constructed by a local contractor, District personnel have been responsible for virtually every other construction aspect including all site work, exterior piping, interior piping, pump installation, plumbing, electrical, controls, chemical feed systems and interior finish work.
Construction of the PTR facility began on March 7th and is expected to be completely finished by early July. The new facility can currently recycle up to 40,000 gallons of filter backwash water every six (6) hours and within a few weeks will be able to
recycle
all plant water periodically used for plant maintenance and operations activities. The ability to recycle allows the District to more efficiently and effectively operate the plant while eliminating the prior need to occasionally discharge to Branch Brook (there have been no discharges since October 2005).
In addition to recycling, two other primary functions of the new PTR facility include the capability to treat and pump up to an additional 3 million gallons per day (mgd) of high quality groundwater from nearby well fields. Well water enters the PTR facility via two 12" diameter supply lines and can be treated and pumped directly into the distribution system or sent to the treatment plant to supplement the Branch Brook surface supply during periods of high system demand or low flow conditions. Either or both options can be used simultaneously, providing full flexibility for supplying our customers with the highest quality drinking water given any variety of raw water conditions that may exist.
Labbe concluded that "The new PTR facility (and supply wells) is the right project at the right time and will help ensure that we can continue to serve our customers with high quality drinking water for years to come".
Please feel free to contact Scott Minor, Asst. Superintendent, at 985-3385 should you have any questions or wish to visit the new PTR facility.
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