ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND WATER RECLAMATION USING MEMBRANE FILTRATION IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

摘要

In mid-2000, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities realized the need to expand the treatment capacityof the McDowell Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (an existing high quality, tertiary treatmentfacility) in order to meet the demands presented by a rapidly growing population in northernMecklenburg County. In addition to the need to meet growing treatment demands, interest wasgrowing in the area with regard to the availability of reclaimed water for reuse applications.When selecting treatment alternatives for the 3.0 mgd expansion, it was necessary to meetseveral objectives which included: (1) provide very high level of treatment to meet strict localdischarge ordinances, (2) include a new reuse system to provide reclaimed water for use in golfcourse irrigation, spray irrigation of county owned land, and other potential reuse applications,(3) provide advanced treatment technology and design to ensure a consistent, reliable highquality plant effluent and reuse water supplies and (4) automate the treatment process as much aspossible to minimize additional staffing requirements. One of the technologies chosen to meetthese requirements is membrane filtration (microfiltration).This paper will present an overview of the decision to provide membrane filtration technology atthe McDowell Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant which was driven by the overall basinstakeholders. Therefore, the process that was implemented for the basin study, including theestablishment of a stakeholders group, the alternatives that were evaluated, and the decidingfactors for the final recommendations will be discussed. Second, this paper will present an indepthlook at the design process and final design of one of the first membrane treatment systemsfor reuse in the Carolinas. Membrane filtration design elements that will be discussed include:(1) integration of membrane filtration into the overall plant treatment process, (2) procurement ofmembrane filtration equipment, (3) membrane filtration system design and automation. Whenconstructed, the 3.0-5.0 mgd McDowell Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant membrane filtrationsystem will be one of, if not the largest membrane filtration system in the Carolinas.