Regulatory Compliance and Public Acceptance Process Manage Utility Upgrade and Achieve Project Success

The 310-million gallons a day (mgd) Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) built in 1967 is New York City's largest wastewater treatment plant of the fourteen plants that service the New York metropolitan area. Located on 53-acres in a densely populated area in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, the plant treats wastewater from a drainage area of about 25 square miles, including parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The existing plant was designed to remove approximately 60 to 70 percent of the influent. The plant is under a Federal Consent Order to upgrade the level of treatment to meet United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) standards for secondary treatment. The plant will also be configured to provide treatment for the total combined storm and sewage flows that can be conveyed to the plant by the sewer system during wet-weather events (up to 700 mgd). The plant is currently undergoing a 4.0 billion upgrade with over 24 construction contracts and 16 general contractors with construction starting in 1995 and completion anticipated in 2017. Malcolm Pirnie, as part of a joint venture with Hazen and Sawyer and Greeley and Hansen, was retained by New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) to provide design and construction management services for plant upgrade. Project required early intervention and verification of involved regulatory agencies, stakeholders, private property owners, and local interest groups as a number of these parties will provide responses concerning potential environmental impacts and compliance requirements regarding this project. Over 40 Federal, State, and Local Agencies and Stakeholders were consulted to obtain over 1,500 permits to construction the upgrade.