Water Treatment for Industrial, Oil and Gas and Mining Sectors
WSP has a wide client base covering industrial, mining, oil and gas wastewaters, and our thorough understanding of environmental regulations allows us to tailor treatment requirements to match, where possible, receiving waters background levels.
Our experience also covers remediation of receiving waters following on-site storage facility failures, restoring receiving waters back to their original pre-contaminated condition.
Helping Clients Harness New Water Supplies through Advanced Water Treatment
In inland and coastal areas where conventional fresh water resources are unavailable, or in areas where water is in short supply, desalination of brackish water and seawater, grey water recycling and reclaimed wastewater are alternative or “new” water supply sources for clean, safe water
WSP has been involved in desalination and reclamation projects around the world and has a clear understanding of the environmental issues that surround these projects. Our experienced engineers have taken on roles such as principal design consultants, owner’s engineers and technical advisors.
Several projects have included exploration of funding options through public and private markets to determine the best available source or price for a product. One such project was the Water Conserv II project in Orange County, Florida, US, where the system provides up to 35 MGD of reclaimed water for agricultural and residential irrigation and aquifer recharge, while providing an environmentally sound and economically feasible regional solution to previously discharged wastewater effluent.
WSP’s experience extends beyond the liquid side of infrastructure. There is also a waste component that requires consideration and which may include mineral reclamation, dewatering, biogas generation, composting or waste to energy systems.
Water Utilities, Government and Private Sector Clients
In Ontario, Canada, WSP provided project management and engineering services for the preliminary and detailed design, tender, contract administration and construction services for the Port Darlington Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) Phase II Expansion project in the Regional Municipality of Durham. This $50 million, state-of-the-art facility was designed to accommodate current and future wastewater treatment needs, while incorporating the ability for modular expansion when needed in the future. The project involves expansion and upgrades to the existing conventional activated sewage treatment plant, permitting an increase of the plant’s rated capacity of 13.6 MLD to 27.3 MLD to meet expected population growth.
In Victoria, Australia, WSP provided multidisciplinary engineering and environmental design services for the Gippsland Water Factory, a wastewater treatment and recycling plant that processes 35 MLD of residential and industrial wastewater and produces around 8 MLD of high-quality recycled water for purchase by local industry. When the project was first considered, the focus was on conventional waste management strategies aimed at solving immediate environmental issues at the outfall sewer. Over several successive stages, the project’s focus widened to include the long-term sustainability of the region’s water supply and the benefits the facility could deliver. The water factory reduces the demand for clean safe water by approximately 3 GLD annually, and emits 38 percent less GHG emissions (20 percent was the theoretical benchmark set during concept design).
In Wessex, UK, WSP radically revised the existing design of Wessex Water’s sludge treatment plant in Taunton to improve efficiency and generate more renewable energy, while reducing the client’s overall costs. Treating sludge as “cake” reduced the volumes involved in transportation. Increasing the importation of sludge from smaller facilities deferred upgrade costs at the smaller facilities, while increasing the overall gas yield to produce an additional 425 kW of power. This was only the second application of this technology for a sludge centre in the UK.
In Bogotá, Colombia, WSP provided technical services for the structuring of a PPP scheme for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Canoas Wastewater Treatment Plant which will treat 1,382 MLD in 2040. With the use of a dynamic software, we performed a model of the plant’s process, mass balance, optimization of reactor sizes and operation parameters, biogas production, and automatization.
This model determined the final quality of the water in discharge in different scenarios (primary and secondary treatment), aeration rates, and energy consumption. Also, we established the amount of sludge that will be obtained during the wastewater treatment and analyzed, at pre-feasibility level, different alternatives for the treatment and disposal of the sludge obtained. Moreover, WSP calculated the investment and operation and maintenance costs that the private sector must incur through the PPP contract.
