Paso Robles recently celebrated the completion of the new Tertiary Treatment Facilities at its wastewater treatment plant.
Black & Veatch served as designer and engineer of record for both the secondary treatment project and the tertiary treatment project heralded as one of the largest, most complex infrastructure projects in the history of the 130-year-old city known for its hot springs.
The Tertiary Treatment Facilities project involved multiple components, including an Aqua-Aerobic cloth disc filtration process and in-channel Trojan ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection. The existing secondary clarifiers were repurposed and converted to an equalization basin upstream of the new filtration process. The project also entailed converting one of the onsite ponds to store the recycled water. The facilities also feature an advanced nutrient harvesting system that removes ammonia, nitrate and phosphorus from the filtrate that comes from the digested sludge dewatering system.
The project comes amidst California’s growing focus on sustainable water solutions. Paso Robles’ master plan for providing a more reliable water supply, includes producing quality recycled water to irrigate public areas such as city parks and golf courses. By reducing the need to pump groundwater from the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin, the project will help build sustainability while strengthening the city’s water supply.