Release - UK Water Projects 2000 23 September 2000 PURAC/164 BROMBOROUGH WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS - MAIN CONTRACT

Authors: Kelvin Wood, Project Manager, Purac Limited Sandra Pescaglini, Technical Co-ordinator, Purac Limited

In December 1998, North West Water awarded the AMEC-PURAC Joint Venture a 28 million contract to provide new treatment facilities at Bromborough Wastewater Treatment Works by the 31st December 2000. The project - designed to ensure the effluent discharges satisfy the European Union Urban Waste Water Directive - forms part of North West Waters Lower Mersey Project.

The AMEC-PURAC Joint Ventures scope comprises new preliminary, primary, secondary and sludge treatment facilities together with a new extended works outfall and includes supply, construction, installation, input into commissioning and, once the new plant is on line, the decommissioning of the existing screening plant. It also includes certain areas of detailed civil, mechanical and electrical design.

The works serving a population equivalent of 180,000 - will have a total flow to the new works of more than 1050 MLD.

Currently, wastewater from the Bromborough catchment areas receives screening at the works prior to continuous discharge to the Mersey Estuary via an outfall. Under the scope of this project the existing works will be decommissioned once the new works is on line. The extent of the decommissioning will include the abandonment of the existing treated outfall, pumping station, screens, screens handling equipment, and electrical substation. The screens building will be refurbished to house the administration facilities and central control. The existing tidal tanks and storm outfall are being incorporated into the new facilities.

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Process Description

All raw wastewater flows up to the maximum throughput capacity of the works including excess storm overflows will receive screening of particulates to 6mm. The screening facilities comprise screw conveyors, compaction and skip collection for landfill disposal. The storm and treated water from the works will be discharged to the Mersey Estuary during all states of the tide. Screened excess storm overflow will flow under gravity to the excess storm pumping station where it will be lifted to the outlet chamber of the station and gravitate to the outfall when the level in the River Mersey is high. When the level of the river is low, bypasses will allow flow to pass directly to the excess storm pumping station outlet chamber under gravity.

Forward flows to treatment will be received from the screen channels into a wet well pumping station comprising of interconnected sumps which will transfer the screened flow to the inlet of the grit removal process - this includes site drainage and return grit liquors. The grit from the process will be collected in skips for disposal to land fill and the filtrate returned to the head of the works.

Flow will be passed forward by gravity to the feed channels for distribution to the storm and primary tanks. The storm tanks are arranged in one bank that is split into three tanks. Automatic sludge removal and tank emptying facilities are housed in an external gallery. The storm tanks will fill in series and, when full, operate in parallel. The screened and degritted wastewater will overflow from the storm tanks via an outlet weir system that discharges by gravity to the outfall.

The maximum flow to the primary tanks is the flow to full treatment plus the return streams from the secondary and sludge treatment processes. The tanks are arranged in one bank split into six individual tanks. The auto desludge equipment and pipework is housed in an external gallery running the length of the tanks. The sludge and scum removal systems are automatic.

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Settled water flows from the primary tank and returned recycle flows from the secondary process will flow by gravity into the interstage pumping station. The pumping station will transfer the flow to the secondary treatment process under varying rates. Secondary treatment is being provided by a Degremont BIOFOR Biological Aerated Flooded Filter (BAFF) comprising six process cells and associated equipment arranged in two banks of three, separated by a common inlet channel. Final effluent will be passed by gravity to the excess storm pumping station for discharge into the outfall.

The process has both a clean backwash and dirty backwash tank that are independent structures with direct feeds to the process units. The clean backwash tank is fed from the BAFF outlet channel and feeds the backwash/process wash pumps that provide cell washing. The dirty backwash water from the cell washing process passes to the dirty backwash tank from where it is pumped back to the primary tanks mixing with the incoming wastewater flow.

Raw sludge storage will be provided for co-settled sludges from the storm/primary tanks equivalent to 2 days storage. Sludge will be pumped from the sludge tanks to the gravity belt thickeners (GBTs) where the sludge is thickened prior to sludge digestion. The sludge liquors will then gravitate to the GBTs liquor pumping station and will be returned to the primary tank inlet channel.

In addition to sludge produced on site, thickened sludge will be imported from Carr Lane Wastewater Treatment Works five days a week and discharged direct into the combined storage tank. The on site thickened sludge will gravitate from the GBT units to the storage tank and mixed by submerged mechanical mixers.

The thickened sludge will then be transferred to two anaerobic digestion process units. The process tanks will operate in parallel; with the thickened sludge transferred to the digester tanks on a cyclic basis to prevent thermal shock to the system. Displaced digested sludge will gravitate from the digesters to sludge storage tankage, which is a combination of 14-day post digestion and 7-day operational storage prior to disposal off site via tankers to agriculture.

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Gas produced during the process will be used to provide combustion energy for the boilers used to maintain the operating conditions within the digester units. The gas will be stored in a gas holder and the excess gas produced burned off in a flare stack.

The storm/treated water will be discharged from the works to the Mersey Estuary during all states of the tide. The outfall commences at the inlet screens discharge and passes through the excess storm pumping station either by gravity or pump assisted as required. The point of discharge in to the Estuary is at mean low water springs

The contract also includes for the provision of a new 11kV ring main and consumer substations, switchgear, distribution transformers, ICA & Communication networks and dedicated telemetry systems. Similarly, the Joint Venture must also provide an odour control system for all process treatment streams on the site. Odours will be treated to meet a boundary odour level of five odour units. All process units and interconnecting channels on the site will be covered locally and air extracted from the beneath the covers and ducted to a centralised odour control plant comprising of a biofilter and a chemical scrubber.

Work began on site early in December 1998, with completion of the new works scheduled for 14th December 2000. North West Water are responsible for the process commissioning of the works during weeks 80 to 93 of the programme. Weeks 93 to 106 have been set aside for the decommissioning of the existing works and its conversion to an administration building.

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The AMEC-PURAC Joint Venture is the main contractor to the project. The project is being worked in much the same way as a true partnering contract and an array of AMEC divisions have been sub contracted to the JV:

AMEC Pile AMEC Tunnelling AMEC Marine (cost-reimbursable contract) AMEC Building/Construction AMEC Utilities (pipe laying)

The project forms part of North West Waters Wirral Wastewater Treatment Project which is being designed and managed by Bechtel Water Technology Limited.

- ends [approx. 1300 words] For further information contact: Abigail Scarborough Public Relations Manager Purac Ltd Tel: 01562 820010 Fax: 01562 820008 E-mail: alzscarborough@purac.co.uk