Drinking Water Services
Treatment plant designs are dependent on raw water quality and range from conventional
to membrane filtration along with treatment for specific chemical contaminants and
various disinfection technologies. Individual treatment systems include reverse
osmosis desalination, thermal and chemical brine concentrate reduction, ion exchange
(magnetized and conventional), granular activated carbon adsorption, ozonation,
ultraviolet radiation, and a wide range of chemical feed systems for coagulation,
taste and odor control, disinfection, and oxidation.
Black & Veatch is intimately familiar with all conventional water treatment
processes, and we are involved with innovative processes and advanced technologies
to meet all current and potential drinking water regulations, standards and guidelines.
Our experience covers all aspects of water treatment, including mixing, flocculation,
sedimentation, filtration, disinfection and chemical addition, as well as advanced
water treatment techniques such as deep-bed monomedium filtration, granular activated
carbon (GAC), membrane filtration, ozonation, air stripping, desalination and virtually
all other treatment processes. We were the first engineering company in the United
States to pilot and design a water treatment plant for the removal of asbestos fibers,
and we have performed pilot studies and designed several water treatment plants
utilizing ozonation systems. In addition, we have performed pilot studies and design
sedimentation facilities using inclined Lamella plate settlers, including the two
largest municipal applications in the United States.
Black & Veatch specializes in the following advanced technologies for drinking
water: desalination, membrane technologies and disinfection. Desalination experience
encompasses membrane, thermal and hybrid designs for both seawater and brackish
source waters. Since 1915, Black & Veatch desalination projects represent capacity
for more than 500 million gallons per day (2,000 mld), which maximizes our ability
to identify specific approaches that increase operating efficiencies, reduce energy
usage and improve desalted water quality. Black & Veatch provides Owner’s engineering
services, studies and pilot plants, conceptual and detailed design development,
permitting, procurement, construction, commissioning and development/financing for
all types of desalination processes and water sources.
Black & Veatch is a global leader in the design, engineering and construction
of advanced membrane treatment systems for water treatment, wastewater treatment
and water reuse. We have designed a combined membrane capacity greater than 500
million gallons per day for municipalities, industry and government agencies around
the world. Our membrane treatment expertise includes reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration
(NF), ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF), as well as low, medium and
high pressure systems. Membrane applications include surface water treatment with
MF or UF • Water reclamation with MF or UF followed by RO • Desalination with RO
• Softening with RO or NF • Nitrate (and other ion) removal with RO • Color, TOC,
and Disinfection Byproduct (DBP) precursor removal with RO or NF • Industrial processing
for ultra-pure water and reuse. Black
& Veatch is at the forefront of advanced disinfection technology that produces
safe, high-quality water at the tap, consistently and cost-effectively. This experience
encompasses both award-winning research and practical "real world" applications
and includes UV disinfection, ozone treatments and hybrid/alternative disinfection
technologies. We are leading the industry in process design that minimizes disinfection
byproducts, reduces reliance on chemical treatments, improves the aesthetic quality
of the water and enhances the performance of disinfection in the distribution system.
Black & Veatch provides technology, processes and technical assistance for regulatory
compliance of water systems. Experience includes the following: Authoring the EPA
Office of Drinking Water Criteria and Standards Division guidance manuals for the
Lead and Copper rule; Corrosion control training for the EPA Lead and Copper Rule;
Assisting the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Water Works
Authority (AWWA) in authoring their textbook: Treatment Plant Design, and
serving as principal authors of the intakes and filtration chapters. Black &
Veatch has been retained by numerous clients to assess the impacts of the US Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rules on existing facilities and how to comply with their
requirements. Black & Veatch personnel are active with many of the technical
committees that develop and review proposed regulations, and our staff regularly
meets with EPA personnel and reviews the Federal Register for EPA and other
regulatory agency action that could affect water utilities.
To plan for needed water storage and distribution capital, and operational and maintenance
improvement projects, a variety of services are available such as master planning;
field testing and inspection to determine physical and hydraulic conditions; hydraulic
modeling; computerized network modeling of flows and pressures in existing or new
systems; special hydraulic studies; fire protection evaluations; leak detection
studies, metering programs, and pipeline and facility inspections; design of pumping
stations, rate of flow control systems, reservoirs, elevated or ground storage facilities;
and water transmission and distribution mains. Designs have consisted of a variety
of pipe materials including ductile iron, gray iron, asbestos-cement pre-stressed
concrete cylinder, PVC, steel cement-lined and coated pipe. Construction conditions
have ranged from highly developed urban and residential areas to open country using
various construction procedures, including open-cut, trenching with shoring, tunneling,
pipe jacking, and aboveground piering. We have experience working in all types of
soil and groundwater conditions requiring the use of dewatering, piling, pressurizing,
corrosion prevention measures and cathodic protection. Route and conceptual design
studies involve the selection of alignment; land acquisition; preservation of archeological
resources, wildlife and wetlands; permitting; and geological investigations and
regional geologic information.
Water treatment plants produce a wide variety of waste products as well as safe
drinking water. These residuals may be organic and inorganic compounds in liquid,
solid, and gaseous forms, depending on the source of raw water and the type of treatment
processes, such as coagulation/filtration, precipitative softening plant, membrane
separation, ion exchange or granular activated carbon. Water treatment plant residuals
form when suspended solids in the raw water react with chemicals (e.g., coagulants)
added in the treatment processes and associated process control chemicals (e.g.,
lime). The many different types of wastes produced by water treatment plants can
be disposed of in many ways: direct discharge, discharge to wastewater treatment
plants, disposal in landfills, land application, underground injection, disposal
of radioactive waste, and treatment of air emissions. Disposal methods depend on
many factors including the residual characteristics, regulatory requirements, treatment
options, disposal options and social/cultural, environmental and economic conditions.
Common disposal practices include agricultural land application, land filling, turf
farming, beneficial reuse such as alum recovery, bricks, or lightweight aggregate.