PROCE S S PAG E Greetings from the FWEA Wastewater Process Committee! This month’s column will highlight the Hillsborough County Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility. This facility won the Earle B. Phelps Award in the category of advanced wastewater treatment in 2021.
Award-Winning Hillsborough County Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility: Advanced Technology and Operational Excellence Jason Hopp The Hillsborough County (county) Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility (NWRWRF), shown in Figure 1, is the largest of five wastewater treatment facilities operated by Hillsborough County Utilities. The facility was recognized by the Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA) in 2021 as the Earle B. Phelps Award winner in the advanced wastewater treatment category for outstanding operations and environmental stewardship. The Earle B. Phelps Award is presented annually to the wastewater treatment plants that demonstrate exceptional effluent quality throughout the year and maintain the highest removal of major pollution-causing constituents, such as total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP). This award
demonstrates the county’s dedication and commitment to environmental stewardship.
Recent Facility Expansion The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a regionalization plan in 2014 for the northwest portion of the county that included the expansion of the NWRWRF. As with many utilities in Florida, the catalyst was aging infrastructure and unprecedented population growth. At $193.3 million, the plan developed by the county was the largestever capital improvement project. The project would retire two aging wastewater plants and consolidate treatment at the NWRWRF. The Dale Mabry Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) and River Oaks WWTF were both more than 40 years old and beyond their useful life.
Figure 1. Aerial view of the Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility.
30 August 2021 • Florida Water Resources Journal
These facilities were decommissioned and converted to master pump stations as part of the project. In addition to decommissioning these two facilities, the county would expand the existing NWRWRF from 10 million gallons per day (mgd) to 30 mgd to meet the region’s wastewater needs through 2040. The goal of the BOCC was to improve wastewater service, improve reliability, and minimize future rate impacts. The expansion of the NWRWRF was the cornerstone of the project and provided many operational benefits. One of the main benefits included improved overall operations and treatment efficiencies by consolidating all of the plant maintenance and operations into one facility. Another benefit was the addition of flow equalization to reduce peak demands and promote a more-uniform treatment process. The county also took exceptional measures to minimize the impacts to the community. The county utilized advanced technologies to minimize odors and noise, preserved natural habitats while using them as natural buffers, and even incorporated a multiuse recreational trail through the restored wetlands for the local residents. Along with the NWRWRF being the county’s largest wastewater treatment plant, it’s also the most advanced. As part of the expansion, the county incorporated a 6-megawatt natural gas microturbine (Figure 2) to supply all the power to the facility, which provided resiliency, reliability, and redundancy of its power sources. It’s the first such facility in Florida, and also the first in the United States, to be fully powered by this kind of microturbine. By generating its own power, the facility is capable of uninterrupted service, even when electricity in the area is knocked out by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. The facility will continue to rely on land power and backup generators for redundancy purposes. The plant expansion took approximately three years to finish and was substantially
