eHT is providing planning, design, permitting, project management, construction management, inspection and O&M services for this project, valued at $7 million. Having exceeded the service life for the treatment units, eHT designed a new 0.4 million gallon per day (MGD) treatment facility, with construction completed to support a future potable reuse project for the City.

The City’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) must be capable of meeting requirements for Type I reuse. Improved system redundancy, implementation of an automated SCADA system, enhanced energy efficiency and biological and chemical nutrient removal capability are all key components for successfully meeting these treatment objectives. eHT based the project on processes including Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) and Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technologies in order to meet the City’s project goals.

The treatment systems ultimately selected were based on required construction footprint, repurposing of existing treatment basins as flow equalization (EQ) basins as a budget control measure, capital and operational cost, operational flexibility, lead time for construction and capability of meeting treatment goals for Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), ammonia, and total phosphorus. The City’s upgraded WWTP included both coarse and fine mechanical screens, grit removal, an influent wastewater pump station, EQ systems, a secondary BNR process designed for biological phosphorus removal, enhanced energy recovery and tertiary filtration using MBR membrane filters, chlorine disinfection and aerobic solids storage and disposal. Also included in the scope of the project was the major amendment of the City’s TPDES discharge permit for a new permitted discharge and a comprehensive Operations and Maintenance Manual. The project is utilizing funds from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).

Additional elements include replacement of the main lift station that transports raw wastewater to the WWTP; incorporating a screening system to the main lift station; replacement of the Humble Town sanitary sewer lift station that was in violation; and construction of a new reuse pump station and transmission line from the new WWTP to Lake Bernie.