AWWA WQTC64170

The Southeast Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority's (Authority) Clyde Potts Reservoir has been serving the residents of Morristown New Jersey for over 70 years. Over that time, the treatment facilities have evolved in response to new water quality regulations. The original treatment, constructed in 1935 was limited to chloramination and pH adjustment with lime. In 1984, the Authority constructed a direct pressure filtration plant in response to the new turbidity standards. In 1998, the Authority constructed a 0.5 MGD demonstration membrane treatment plant to comply with the requirements of the Surface Water Treatment Rule. The demonstration facility enabled the Authority to assess the effectiveness of this relatively new technology and gain valuable experience and operating data. The demonstration facility was procured by performing a desktop treatment evaluation and a series of pilot tests and then bidding of the membrane system. The membranes provided for the demonstration facility were a pressurized type. Based on the operation of the demonstration plant, in 2000 the Authority commenced with the design of a full-scale 2.5 MGD membrane plant. The new plant, which uses immersed membranes, was placed into successful operation in November 2004. The project presented several challenges including the following: based on the Owner's experience with a pressurized membrane system, was a different membrane system warranted for the full-scale plant given advances in technology?; as part of the demonstration plant, the membranes were procured by bidding of the membranes separately from the installation contract, was there a "better" way to implement the entire membrane project, and should the Owner consider design build or sole sourcing the membranes?; given the rapid advancements in membrane technology, what design enhancements could be made to the facility to prevent the system from becoming obsolete?; and, there were no sewers in the vicinity of the site and therefore all residuals needed to be either recycled, disposed of in a local stream, or hauled off site. The full scale plant recycles 99.9% of the raw water. Waste discharge is limited to recovery and maintenance cleans. The Authority's response to these challenges is presented in this paper. In addition, the membrane operating history is discussed. After 2 years of operation, the membrane cleaning has exceeded design expectations. Currently recovery cleans are being performed every 3 months. Since the membranes that were used had only been recently introduced by the manufacturer at the time of construction, approximately 2 years of operating data is available and is discussed. The Owner has also implemented a web based membrane management system with the membrane vendor. The performance of this state of the art web based diagnostic system is also discussed. Includes tables.