DPR System Operation: Translating Pilot Experience and Lessons Learned to Full-Scale Design

With a diverse portfolio of water resources increasingly strained by a prolonged drought, El Paso Water (EPW) is developing a direct potable reuse (DPR) project to recycle 10 million gallons per day (MGD) of unchlorinated secondary effluent from its Roberto R. Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Institutional knowledge about potable reuse remains limited relative to other water and wastewater treatment applications. The Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF) pilot plant processes include denitrification filters, ozone, membrane filtration, membrane desalination, ultraviolet disinfection with advanced oxidation (UV-AOP), and peroxide quenching granular activated carbon (GAC). In addition to the treatment train, multiple online analyzers were strategically placed to evaluate the monitoring techniques essential to public health risk reduction. A full programmable logic controller (PLC) was applied to give the pilot plant full automation equipped with a SCADA system to collect data from online analyzers and treatment processes. This paper will present the key concepts in DPR pilot plant operation and their implications for full-scale design, including aspects of treatment process optimization, instrumentation and monitoring, system redundancy, and lessons learned. With institutional knowledge of potable reuse system operations still in the nascent stage of development, the insight and experience gained during piloting are critical to full-scale project success, facilitating more efficient and economical operation and maintenance, and the presentation of this work will broaden the foundation upon which the institutional knowledge can continue to grow.

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