Project Category:
The RWTP takes the final treated wastewater from the City of Amherst's wastewater treatment plant, treats the water for use in the boilers, then feeds process water to the UMass steam plant. This alternative to using potable town water has resulted in big savings.
The plant was installed at a cost of $1.8 million and has a rated output of 250 gallons/minute. To commence the disinfected treatment water process, a chlorinated effluent is sent to a sand filter bank then to several final cartridge filters. These cartridge filters remove fine particles. The central feature of the plant, a bank of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, filters the effluent. Lastly, the treated water is stored in an outside tank until the steam plant can use it. Typically, the steam plant uses the reclaimed water that very same day.
The effluent from the wastewater treatment plant is of better quality then the town water for industrial purposes, which results in the reduction of boiler "blowdowns" by about 10%. This reduction in boiler blow has resulted in roughly a 2% fuel reduction at the steam plant. This water conservation effort is expected to reclaim approximately 9,000,000 cubic feet of water with cost savings of approximately $300,000 for water and $100,000 for fuel.
