Effectively Engaging Stakeholders of a University Community's New Water Treatment Plant Under Design-Build-Operate Contract

After more than 80 years of service, it was time for a new combined groundwater and surface water treatment plant (WTP) to serve the UNH and the town of Durham, New Hampshire. UNH opted for a DB alternative delivery method, issuing a single contract for design and construction of the new WTP. After awarding the contract in October 2016, the project team proceeded with the design concurrent with receiving significant inputs through key stakeholder engagement. Construction of the new zero liquid discharge (ZLD) began in nine months due to the collaborative approach. Aesthetically designed to blend in with nearby buildings, the new facility increased the plant capacity — from 1.5 million to 2 million gallons per day (MGD) — while achieving a full redundancy on unit process trains, unlike the original plant. Throughout the design process, the DB team sought input from university and town officials. The campus planning department reviewed iterations of conceptual designs, along with constructability reviews by the general contractor and operability reviews by both Woodard & Curran's operations group and the existing WTP operations staff. Through this collaborative process, the design-build team ensured the final design would satisfy concerns raised by various stakeholders. The resulting energy efficient WTP included a conventional treatment process with plate settler clarification capable of treating multiple combinations of three source waters with varying water quality and quantity in real-time. The WTP design also accounted for a significant population flux, with upwards of 13,000 undergraduate students present on campus annually between September and May adding to Durham's year-round population of approximately 16,500. The ZLD WTP facility is the first of its kind in New Hampshire. The plant recycles underdrain filtrate and supernatant decant from the treatment residuals lagoons back to the head of the plant. To optimize the educational value of an on-campus WTP, each stage of the process, with exception to subsurface tanks, was designed so university students and faculty could view the processes. A laboratory within the facility offers more opportunity for students to conduct water treatment related research. The DB process expedited the project, allowing construction to begin while detailed designs were still being finalized. When the university's WTP manager left in 2019 as construction on the new facility neared completion, UNH opted to engage a contract operator. After an additional procurement stage, the project effectively turned from a DB delivery into a design-build-operate (DBO). With the existing relationship between the DB team and stakeholders and the addition of Woodard & Curran's operations expertise, the team easily maintained operations at the existing facility while completing startup at the new facility, which began distributing reliable, high-quality water in March 2020.