Maximizing Operations Efficiency for Wastewater Utilities: Consolidation Evaluation for the City of St. Petersburg

To maximize operations efficiency, the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, wanted to investigate the feasibility for reducing their current water reclamation facilities from four to three. The existing Albert Whitted Water Reclamation Facility is the smallest and oldest of the city's four water reclamation facilities. Required capital expenditures at AWWRF include construction of a new 26.5-million-liter (7.0-million-gallon) reject water storage tank, which would need to be located at a remote location. As an alternative to the additional costs that would be incurred to keep AWWRF in service, the city contracted with CDM to evaluate alternatives to the continued operations and maintenance of the aging facility. The objective of the evaluation was to provide a present-worth analysis based on marginal cost for keeping AWWRF in service, versus two alternatives for flow diversion and treatment if the plant were taken out of service. The flow diversion alternatives included installing a master pump station in proximity to AWWRF and new force main(s) that would discharge to the other treatment facilities.