To be prepared for the future development of the Lake Lanier Islands (LLI) property, the Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority (LLIDA) and their engineer, Engineering Strategies, Inc., embarked on the development of a brand new water reclamation facility.  It was the LLIDA’s desire to upgrade the facility to the latest in treatment technology and provide the best treated water quality possible in one process.  It was quickly decided that they would move forward using membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology to replace their old treatment process. The design flow for this new plant would be 0.5 MGD, upgradeable to 1.0 MGD.

The overall plant design included two Baycor rotating drum screens with 2-mm openings, grit removal, an EQ basin, a GE Water & Process Technologies MBR process, membrane tanks, Yeomans RAS/WAS pumps, Fontaine gates, Trojan UV disinfection, an aerobic digester, centrifuge  dewatering, and odor control

The MBR scope for this project included one of GE’s packaged systems.  For small facilities, GE has the capability to skid mount their permeate pumps along with the valves and pipe headers and controls panels, all pre-wired and factory tested.  This particular configuration results in a tighter footprint, and a simplified installation for the contractor, saving space, time and money. 

Another interesting design consideration is associated with the UV system.  To minimize costs, the Engineer did not want to re-pump effluent, which might be required if an open-channel UV design was utilized.  In order to save space and use the permeate pump to transfer effluent uphill to a storage tank, Trojan’s new UVFit system was utilized for this project.  This is an in-vessel design using highly efficient low-pressure high-output lamp technology.  With these style lamps, the resulting UV system is both small and cost effective.

The plant has been in operation since late 2009 and is performing well. It is important to note that the operators of the plant readily adapted to operating this advanced treatment plant from the previous treatment system without any trouble. This is a tribute to the staff and to the ease of operating an MBR wastewater treatment plant.