The City of Houston, TX, has awarded a contract to Veolia Water Technologies Inc. to supply a Hydrotech Discfilter system for tertiary treatment at its 69th Street Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The existing traveling bridge filters at the 69th Street WWTP are near the end of their life and need replacement.
A team of the City’s employees and their local consultant evaluated proposals to replace the filters. The team reviewed capital and long-term O&M costs in order to select a manufacturer based on the overall best value. Another key factor for Houston in the selection process was the efficiency of equipment in regards to operation and maintenance over the course of the technology’s life cycle.
Veolia’s Hydrotech Discfilter system was determined to be the best value and was selected for the City’s tertiary filtration treatment upgrade. The 440 MGD peak daily flow tertiary Discfilter system is designed to handle influent with a peak TSS of ≤ 100 mg/L, and produce an average monthly effluent of ≤ 10 mg/L. This upgrade to the current facility involves retrofitting the Discfilter system into the basins of the existing traveling bridge filters.
The Hydrotech Discfilter system will include 19 units, each supplied with filter chassis as well as media and a backwash pump. Veolia will also provide spare parts, instrumentation and field services as part of the contract. "The innovative Hydrotech design provides treatment within a small footprint and allows us to use the existing filter structure while increasing our filter capacity. The system’s design is user-friendly and allows operation and maintenance to be efficient and easy to perform. We will also be able to save in electrical and operation costs because of the efficiency of the process." – Shannon Dunne, City of Houston.
