Colorado City Water Treatment Plant Expansion
Location: Colorado City, Colo.
Client: Colorado City Metropolitan District
Completion Date: April 2007
Colorado City is experiencing rapid growth, which has necessitated expansion of the district's water treatment plant to provide more water to serve the growing population. Using the latest technology, submerged membrane filtration, the facility provides a high standard of water quality for the residents of Colorado City.
- Design-build-finance
- Ultrafiltration
- Fully automated
- Increased capacity in a smaller footprint
The expansion provides added flexibility to meet peak day water demands and improve water quality. Submerged ultrafiltration membranes enhance treatment capabilites, provide a positive barrier to both Giardia and Cryptosporidium and allow the Colorado City Metropolitan District's water treatment plant to meet peak day water demands by producing up to 1.2 million gallons of water per day (MGD). The project also expanded the existing plant by 1,200 square feet.
Three trains of submerged ultrafiltration membranes were installed using a new coagulant feed system for enhanced coagulation, chlorine disinfection system, mechanical, electrical instrumentation and controls, civil sitework, increased high service pump station capacity, and yard piping. This project is one of the first design-build-finance (D-B-F) projects in Colorado and was financed by Siemens.
The Metropolitan District utilized a D-B-F concept to provide the district with a total solution concept. The district was preapproved for the loan before the RFP, allowing the district and the D-B-F team to expedite the design, construction and financing to reduce overall costs and meet the expedited schedule. Construction began in November 2006, and the project was substantially completed by April 2007.
The submerged membrane system uses polyvinylideneflouride membranes with a nominal pore size of 0.01 micron. These membranes are resistant to oxidants, allowing for daily cleaning procedures that provide greater flexibility in treating raw water of varying quality. In addition to increasing capacity, the membranes offer plant operators greater flexibility to implement treatment process changes for process optimization without significantly impacting the membranes.
The water treatment plant produces safe and reliable drinking water that meets all new regulatory requirements with the ability to continue providing quality water for years to come.
