New Jersey American Water has built a new water treatment plant in Short Hills, NJ to meet the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act including the control of disinfection by-products. The new plant was built alongside two older plants, one that was built in 1929 and the second built in 1958. The 1958 plant remained online during construction.
The new facility cost $78 million to build, which was funded by a grant from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust, and created 200 jobs. It can produce 14 million gallons of water a day that meets or exceeds state and federal standards.
The new plant has ozone water treatment and allows New Jersey American Water to comply with the by-products disinfection rule and improves taste and odor for the facility’s customers. Raw water is pumped from the reservoir and ozone gas is added to the raw water as needed. A coagulant is added to the water to remove natural organic matter suspended in the water. After that, the water is mixed is rapid mixed with paddle mixers to form floc and then goes on to the Dissolved Air Flotation basins. Tiny bubbles float the floc to the surface and form a sludge blanket which is removed by using a mechanical scrapper. Once it leaves the DAF basin it enters filters which remove any remaining suspended solids from the water. A disinfectant and corrosion inhibitor are then added before the water leaves the plant to the distribution system.