Haworth Water Treatment Plant upgrade receives national DBIA award

HARRINGTON PARK, N.J. — The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) recognized United Water New Jersey’s Haworth Water Treatment Plant upgrade with a National Design-Build Excellence Award in the water/wastewater more than $25 million category. The award was presented at DBIA’s 2010 Design-Build Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas.

United Water partnered with CDM to design and build a $100 million upgrade to the company’s 200-million-gallon-per-day (mgd) facility, which serves 800,000 people in northern New Jersey. The project included innovative high-rate dissolved air flotation (DAF) for sedimentation clarification, installed by United Water’s sister company, Degremont. Additional upgrades included a highly efficient ozone pretreatment process, new disinfection facilities, and new residuals handling and treatment processes.

The design-build project delivery method enables one entity to provide design and construction to an owner under a single contract. This allowed Haworth’s major process treatment units to be designed, permitted, constructed, and placed in service in only 21 months, which is half the time conventional design and construction would require. “The greatest measure of success was that our customers enjoyed a safe and reliable supply of water during the construction of the upgrade at the water treatment plant,” said Bob Iacullo, president of United Water. “This was unprecedented when you consider the activity that took place. We had more than 100 construction workers putting in six-day work weeks to meet our ambitious schedule.”

According to Pete Tunnicliffe, CDM senior vice president: “Progressive design-build delivery was integral to the success of the upgrade. By working with United Water to advance the design scope, we were able to incorporate their engineering and operations input, expedite procurement, and initiate construction while the final design took place. Not only did we deliver the project ahead of schedule and under budget, but we ensured that regulations were met — protecting the environment and customers of United Water.”

Haworth’s high-rate DAF removes 90 percent of particles and algae from source water for improved water quality. As a result, backwash volume from filtration is significantly reduced; backwash water also is recycled to eliminate discharge. High-rate DAF requires one-eighth the process tank volume needed for traditional sedimentation clarification, conserving 12 acres of woodland and saving millions on infrastructure. In addition, Haworth’s state-of-the-art ozone system removes unwanted tastes and odors, boosts DAF performance, and increases filter run periods by 4 to 6 times — contributing to the water treatment plant’s exceptional water quality and energy efficiency. The result: an enhanced treatment process that saves energy, protects the environment, and produces great-tasting water.