Saving Millions through Resurrecting the Decommissioned Taber WWTP using an Innovative Design-Build Approach

The upgraded Taber Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is located in Southern Alberta and treats the domestic wastewater from the Town of Taber (Town). The plant formerly consisted of two (2) rotating biological contactors (RBCs) and two (2) secondary clarifiers. Due to operational issues with the RBCs and available capacity in the industrial system, the domestic wastewater system was decommissioned in 2000 and all of the domestic sewage was diverted to the aerated lagoons for co-treatment with the industrial wastewater. The coarse manual bar screen at the WWTP remained operational during the time that the WWTP was not in service.In 2006, Stantec Consulting Ltd. (Stantec) teamed up with Lockerbie Stanley Inc. (Lockerbie) and EPCOR Alberta Inc. (EPCOR) to upgrade and expand the decommissioned Taber WWTP by implementing biological nutrient removal (BNR) through a Design-Build-Operate-Finance (DBOF) delivery process. The project was completed for 15 million compared to the original estimate of 28 million. The project presented several challenges including the reuse of decommissioned infrastructure and extremely tight hydraulics while providing a process train that met the future growth requirements of the Town and the Alberta Environment effluent quality standards. The construction of the project started in November 2007 and the plant was commissioned in early 2009. This paper outlines how the existing WWTP infrastructure has been reused and provides information on the challenges associated with the design, construction and commissioning of the WWTP along with recent plant performance data.