The City of Alachua recently held a grand opening of its newly completed 1.5 million gallon per day (mgd) advanced water reclamation facility. The ceremony was the culmination of a project which was initiated more than 12 years ago when the Alachua City Commission recognized its existing wastewater treatment plant was reaching capacity and becoming obsolete. The City received a Small Disadvantaged Community Grant which funded 57% of the $22.5 million project total. The City also received State legislative appropriations totaling $1.6 million earmarked for the project.
“The recent expansion of our wastewater treatment facility will attract future residents and businesses to our community while better serving our citizens,” said City Manager Traci Cain. “The sustainability and economic growth of our community is directly related to providing vital infrastructure.”
The 18-month construction project began in November 2009. The new facilities were substantially completed and placed into service in April 2011. The new wastewater treatment facilities, which have an expected operational life of 40 years, expand the capacity of the plant by more than 50% from 0.937 mgd to 1.5 mgd.
The new facilities, which are readily expandable to 3.0 mgd in the future, feature highly effective biological carbon and nutrient removal, sand filtration, hi-level disinfection, innovative biosolids treatment, state-of-the art instrumentation and control, bi-fuel auxiliary generation for backup power, and an administration building with dedicated operations, maintenance and laboratory areas. Treated effluent from the new treatment plant is pristine, meeting drinking water standards. It is suitable for public access reuse water. The City plans for 100% of its treated water to be utilized in the community as reclaimed water.
Planning efforts for the project were led by Eutaw Utilities, Tallahassee, Florida. Eutaw Utilities specializes in planning projects with State grant and loan funding. The engineering design for the facilities, which focused on the inclusion of innovation and automation to reduce operations and maintenance cost, was produced by Jones, Edmunds, and Associates, Gainesville, Florida. The Construction Manager at Risk was The Haskell Company, Jacksonville, Florida.
