TURBO CHARGED: Aeration basin upgrades yield significant savings

摘要

Charlotte Water (CLT Water), a department of the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, provides drinking water and sanitary sewer service to the city, as well as the surrounding towns and areas in Mecklenburg County. Providing services to close to a million customers, CLT Water has sizable capital needs and a capital program exceeding $1 billion USD with a planning horizon of greater than 10 years. Prioritization of all the needs to be funded through capital bond sales is a consistent challenge, especially when it comes to replacing aging infrastructure while simultaneously building out capacity. This area of North Carolina is one of the most rapidly growing urban areas in the country. Rehabilitation - and sometimes expansion - are a consistent ongoing need. To reduce costs and increase capacity and operational flexibility within the existing structures, CLT Water overhauled the existing aeration systems and controls at the Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. This project switched to high speed turboblowers (HST), installed better instrumentation, and added swing zones to the basins.