The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) awarded their Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award (OCEA) to ARCADIS US its Alvarado Water Treatment Plant Ozone Upgrade and Expansion Project in San Diego. The project increased capacity at the 62-year-old plant by nearly 70 percent and improved the disinfection process providing safer, better tasting water to San Diego’s growing communities.
The Alvarado Water Treatment Plant, the oldest active facility providing water to San Diego residents, now uses ozone rather than chlorine to disinfect the city’s drinking water. Ozone disinfection reduces the water’s level of potentially harmful chlorine by-product and removes tastes and odors for safer, more aesthetically-pleasing water. The ozone process was placed between settling and filtration.
Ozone use is expanding in the US and around the world due to the benefits of improved disenfection with less environmental impact. Billions of gallons per day of municipal water is now treated using ozone water treatment technology.
The new ozone facility includes providing the ozone contactor and associated equipment, together with a building to house it. The ozone building will be between 25ft and 18ft in height and will house three 1,000lbs per day ozone generators, ozone off-gas destruct system, pumps and chemical systems, and ozone contactors. The project was completed in 2011 at a cost of $57m.
Established in 1960, ASCE’s OCEA Award recognizes a project and the many engineers who have made a significant contribution to the civil engineering profession.