New Water Treatment Plant, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) water supply well fields (Big Hollow and Houserville) have been subjected to increased surface water influence for the past several years. Operational difficulties arising during heavy storms and extended rain events have been reported. The consequences of these stormwater events can result in raised turbidity levels and if those turbidity levels exceed acceptable limits, the affected wells would be required to be taken off line.

Due to these factors, PSU initiated a project to install a single point of treatment on the water supply system and engaged BH’s design team for professional engineering services for the upgrade and expansion of the PSU’s existing water treatment facilities. This new 5.2 MGD Water Treatment Facility will include:

  • Pressure microfiltration/ultrafiltration membranes able to effectively remove biological contaminates to consistently provide a safe potable water supply for University Park
  • Granular activated carbon to effectively remove organic contaminates currently regulated and continuing to be regulated to consistently provide a safe potable water supply for University Park
  • Side stream system (nanofiltration membranes) for water softening and other contaminate removal
  • Support buildings for crew shops and storage
  • Break/conference room, control room, and offices
  • Lab support spaces
  • Upgrades to system piping for redundant supply
  • New fiber optic communication services and DeltaV SCADA system to interface with the rest of PSU’s water system

BH will also provide new communications services for the building with a new fiber optic service serving the new process control system. The new process control system will be coordinated with the existing plant, overall campus water system, and other facilities including two well fields and four water storage towers.

The new water plant will have a DeltaV SCADA system to interface with the overall campus system. The main PLC in the new water plant shall be a Rockwell Automation CompactLogix PLC with the ability to communicate necessary data to the DeltaV SCADA system. All vendor-supplied PLCs with equipment shall be Rockwell Automation CompactLogix PLCs.

Understanding Penn State’s project delivery requirements, BH used Autodesk Revit®, a 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) software application, in the overall development and presentation of the design and construction documents. This provided PSU with an opportunity to preview the facilities during the design process.