Comprehensive Performance Evaluations
A comprehensive performance evaluation looks at each individual component of a water or wastewater treatment facility and gives them a treatment capacity rating. Many firms stop here, but at Indigo Water Group we recognize that every process in a treatment facility necessarily impacts every other process. We take a holistic approach. In addition to evaluating each unit process, we look at the effects that each piece of the process may have on another.
A great example is centrate return in a wastewater treatment plant. As the sludge age is increased or decreased, solids production also increases and decreases which affects digester function and the characteristics of the centrate or filtrate return stream. Individual unit processes don’t operate independently of the rest of the facility.
We use a combination of biological process modeling, state point analysis, and design criteria from reputable sources such as Water Environment Federation, Metcalf and Eddy, and the State of Colorado to find the “bottlenecks” in the process. Often, treatment efficiency can be increased dramatically by eliminating a single bottleneck through operational changes or capital improvements.
At the same time, we realize that the “standard” rating isn’t always right for your facility. Data analysis, thorough characterization of the raw influent, and past performance can be used to re-rate facilities for more or less throughput than the “standard’ rating might give. Conservative designs may yield additional capacity under close scrutiny.
Indigo Water Group staff are experienced in conducting CPEs for both municipal and industrial clients.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Indigo Water Group recently completed CPEs for the City of Victor’s and Town of Meeker’s wastewater treatment facilities. Victor is facing decreasing population growth and aging facilities. Meeker is looking forward to a period of rapid growth brought on by oil and gas exploration. Our CPEs looked at how to minimize process bottlenecks and improve capacity for the lowest possible cost.
