The Metro Wastewater Reclamation District in Denver broke ground for its new $475-million Northern Treatment Plant on Aug. 17 at the new plant site north of Brighton, Colo.
The NTP marks the first satellite treatment facility the Metro District has undertaken, coinciding with its 50th anniversary.
“The NTP is Metro’s logical next step in its 50 years of progress. The facility is needed to support communities in the northern metropolitan region because existing facilities will soon reach their capacity,” said Metro District Manager Catherine Gerali.
The advanced wastewater treatment facility is scheduled to be on-line in 2015.
The plant, which will include significant odor control measures, will serve portions of Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City and Thornton, with the capacity to serve other communities in the northern Denver metro area. A significant effort has been made to ensure the architecture and landscaping blends in with the surrounding community. The Metro District is the largest wastewater treatment agency in the Rocky Mountain West.
During the past 50 years, the district has evolved from serving Denver and a small group of suburbs to a clean-water agency that returns 140 million gal. of clean water daily to the South Platte River. The district’s existing Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility at 64th and York treats about 140 million gal. of wastewater a day.
The service area includes nearly 1.7 million people and encompasses approximately 715 square miles, including Denver, Arvada, Aurora, Brighton, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Thornton and part of Westminster, together with about 40 sanitation and water and sanitation districts in the metropolitan Denver area.
The owner’s adviser for the NTP is a team composed of Denver’s Carollo Engineers and Jacobs. Following interviews held from May 4 through 6, CH2M HILL, with subconsultants Brown & Caldwell and Garney Construction, Denver, was selected as the design-builder for the NTP facilities.
The Metro District also has selected HDR for design of the South Platte Interceptor and Effluent Pump-Back Force Main. Design of the pipelines began at the end May and should be complete in late 2012.
