Water Project of the Year
Poblacion WTP, Philippines
What is it?
A 150,000m3/d drinking water treatment plant (WTP) drawing from Laguna Lake, the largest lake in the Philippines. The plant uses a combination of dissolved air flotation, cloth filters, biological aerated filtration and UF/RO membrane treatment to produce water serving the drinking water needs of around 6 million people in the Manila metropolitan region.
Who is involved?
The $200 million project was delivered by a joint venture of Acciona and D.M. Consulting. Acciona will also operate and maintain the plant for 12 months under the contract with the client, concessionaire Maynilad Water Services.
What makes it special?
Water quality in the Laguna Lake shifts rapidly: the surface is prone to algal blooms while turbidity and ammonia levels can peak suddenly or disappear over the course of a day. The adaptable approach and array of treatment technologies the plant displays ensures constant quality water supply from the most unreliable of raw water sources, and acts as a model for flexible water infrastructure in increasingly turbulent climactic conditions.
The plant protects against the risk presented by seawater intrusion during periods when the lake’s level is low by incorporating a 50,000m3/d reverse osmosis system as a backup option. The ability to turn to RO at a moment’s notice future-proofs the water supply at a time when droughts are an increasing worry for cities around the world.
The project overcame an extremely difficult delivery environment: flawless execution overcame COVID- and inflation-led construction worries, while a bold approach to civil engineering meant that extremely deep piling and the raising of the entire site solved the perennial worries of flooding in the area near to the lake.
Distinction
San Fernando Groundwater Treatment Program, USA
What is it?
A $480 million project that will recover 75 million US gallons a day (284,000m3/d) of contaminated water from the San Fernando Valley Groundwater Basin northwest of downtown Los Angeles, to support the city’s water supply. The project encompasses the construction of two treatment facilities at North Hollywood and Tujunga deploying activated carbon and UV advanced oxidation processes, among others, to tackle contamination from substances like trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, hexavalent chromium and 1,4-dioxane, caused by the disposal of hazardous chemicals during decades of commercial and heavy industrial operations.
Who is involved?
The project was delivered under a progressive design-build contract by a team comprising Kiewit and Stantec. UV treatment systems were provided by Trojan. The client was the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
What makes it special?
By removing contaminants dating back to the 1940s in an area where nearly 70% of wells were previously unusable, the project protects human health and the environment, while feeding into LADWP’s existing water treatment and supply network, and creating a critical new local source of water for Los Angeles.
The project will dramatically reduce Los Angeles’ reliance on imported water – previously just 10% of the city’s water was sourced locally – making the area more self-sufficient at a time when imported water has become more scarce and more politically loaded in the light of regular drought conditions hitting California.
The project was delivered effectively on a tight schedule complicated by COVID restrictions – after plans to develop the site for one plant were hit by pandemic-induced no-eviction rules six months into the design stage, the plant layout was quickly and efficiently redrawn to make better use of internal spaces.