NEWARK CITY PEQUANNOCK WATER TREATMENT PLANT IMPROVEMENTS

NJ I-Bank Project of the Week: Newark City Pequannock Water Treatment Plant Improvements Community Receives $12,539,629 in Water Bank Loans. Estimated Savings to ratepayers of $3,345,868.

NJ I-Bank and NJDEP Helping to Improve New Jersey's Environmental Infrastructure, One Project at a Time

The City of Newark recently completed drinking water improvements that are being funded with approximately $12.5 million in loans from the NJ Water Bank, a joint low-rate funding program of the DEP and the NJ I-Bank. Total savings for this project are estimated to be $3.3 million over the 30-year term of the loan or 27% of the total project cost. In addition, this project created an estimated 150 direct construction jobs.  

The Pequannock Water Treatment Plant (PWTP) is owned and operated by the City of Newark and has the capacity to filter and treat up to 60 million gallons per day.  The City has evaluated ways to improve operations, provide system resiliency, and improve efficiency at the PWTP.  As a result of the evaluations, Newark proceeded with a project to improve the PWTP's chlorination system and address the disposal of residuals generated from the treatment process.   

The project involved the replacement of the existing gas chlorination system with a new, safer chlorination system that generates 0.8% liquid sodium hypochlorite solution using water, salt, and electricity. To further increase system reliability, an abandoned chemical feed system at the main plant was converted into a stand-by back-up 15% liquid sodium hypochlorite feed system. The two on-site 0.8% sodium hypochlorite systems are some of the largest systems in NJ and, including the back-up 15% sodium hypochlorite system, now provide a highly resilient chlorination system to the City of Newark that is critical to the safety of the water treatment process at the PWTP and brought the plant into compliance with NJDEP Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act requirements.  

The Residuals Treatment Facilities project involved the construction of a mechanical dewatering system to dewater plant residuals for subsequent disposal off-site. Particulate material was originally removed from the raw water supply through a filtration process and discharged to a lagoon where the solids would thicken and settle.  Over many years of operation, the lagoon has reached capacity and the City was required to remove the settled solids from the lagoon, a system that was costly and unsustainable. The City constructed a system that included on-site thickening of the residuals and subsequent mechanical dewatering of the thickened residuals using state of the art centrifuge treatment.  The centrifuge provides a cake material that is approximately 20% solids, which is conveyed off-site for disposal as beneficial reuse material or landfill cover. The new mechanical dewatering system is a highly efficient system and provides the City of Newark with a long-term, cost-effective solution for residuals generated at the PWTP.   

According to Ras Baraka, Mayor of the City of Newark, "This project is an example of our commitment to improve our drinking water and reduce risks to public health and safety.  By availing ourselves of low cost financing from the NJ Water Bank, this project was accomplished at an affordable price and will save our rate payers money over time. " 

The chlorination system improvements were designed by Mott MacDonald and constructed by Allied Construction Group. The residuals treatment system improvements were designed by Mott MacDonald and constructed by Coppola Services, Inc. 

For more information, contact the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank at (609) 219-8600.

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