New Plant Improvements Result in Substantial O&M Cost Savings

The Hangtown Creek Water Reclamation Facility (HCWRF) is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California. The treatment plant capacity is 101 L/s (2.3 mgd) average dry weather flow. Substantial improvements were required to comply with new waste discharge requirements (including nutrient removal, year-round tertiary treatment, reduction of disinfection byproducts, and effluent cooling) and a cease and desist order, sludge treatment regulations, to address safety issues. A substantial increase in annual operation and maintenance (O&M) cost was probable with the addition of the upgraded treatment processes and need to meet more stringent effluent limits.The design strategy included upgrading critical processes and replacing inefficient outdated technology to improve treatment plant efficiency while mitigating increases in overall operation O&M cost. Since the City service area is of limited size and the number of connections is not growing, controlling O&M costs was a major concern of the City.