Client Name | PROJECT NAME
Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility South
Secondary Complex Improvements
Denver, Colorado
As Part of their $800 million Capital Project Management Program, the Metro
Wastewater Reclamation District (MWRD) retained the team of Black & Veatch
and Brown and Caldwell to provide consulting services to oversee the various
components of the Program. One on the major improvements project in this
program is the South Secondary Complex Improvements at the Robert W. Hite
Treatment Facility (RWHTF).
The RWHTF currently treats an annual average of 140 million gallons per day
(mgd) of wastewater which is discharged into the South Platte River. The
MWRD service area includes the majority of the Denver metropolitan area,
approximately 615 square miles with a population of approximately 1.6 million
people.
The RWHTF provides advanced secondary treatment and biosolids handling.
The liquid train treatment is divided into two separate complexes, the North
Complex and the South Complex. Both complexes include preliminary, primary
and secondary treatment but the North Complex incorporates nitrification and
denitrification utilizing a three sludge process constructed as part of a Black &
Veatch project in the mid 1980’s. The South Complex secondary treatment
includes only BOD and TSS removal using a high purity oxygen process.
Project Elements





Pumping station
Centrifuge blower building
Aeration complex
CaRRB Units
Activated sludge
Services
Preliminary design
Key Team Members
?
Period of Service
2007 to 2011
Construction Valeut
$300 million
Client Reference
Mr. Bill Brennan
Director of the Department
of Planning
Metro Wastewater
Reclamation District
6450 York Street
Denver, CO
(303) 286-3000
The Black & Veatch team, as part of
their Capital Project Management
Program, was given the assignment of
completing the preliminary design
documents for the South Secondary
Improvements Project. The Project
will make up the largest improvement
project since the 1970s and will result
in a one-plant concept with similar,
more balanced processes between the
two liquid stream complexes at the
RWHTF.
Upgrading the system will increase the ability of the RWHTF to remove
ammonia from the plant effluent and limit the discharge of nitrate into the South
Platte River through upgrading the South Secondary Complex. Renovations will
expand the treatment capacity of the South Secondary Complex to 100 mgd and
replace the existing high purity oxygen system with an advanced biological
nutrient removal facility.
BLACK & VEATCH | Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility South Secondary Complex Improvements
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Client Name | PROJECT NAME
The South Secondary Improvements Project includes the following components:
 A new primary effluent pumping station with a rated capacity of 224 mgd
 A blower building that houses five single-stage centrifugal blowers each rated
at 29,900 scfm and driven by 2,000 hp motors
 Electrical/Mechanical Building that houses the primary switchgear and
mechanical HVAC systems
 An aeration complex that includes six aeration basins
 Three CaRRB units and a tunnel complex to house equipment and piping
 Two mixed liquor distribution structures that distribute flow from the new
aeration basins to ten existing secondary clarifiers and serve as surface
wasting classifiers
 Two new return activated sludge (RAS) pumping stations to return sludge to
the aeration basins and CaRRB
Due to the scope and schedule of this project, MWRD charged the Black & Veatch
Team with the primary responsibility of completing the preliminary design and
selected a separate final design consultant to prepare the final bid documents.
As the Capital Project Program Manager for the District, the Black & Veatch
Team will act in an advisory role to monitor the scope, schedule and cost of the
project during final design.
BLACK & VEATCH | Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility South Secondary Complex Improvements
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Client Name | PROJECT NAME
Article:
B&V SETS THE STAGE FOR THE SOUTH SECONDARY
IMPROVEMENTS AT DENVER’S WASTEWATER FACILITY
Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (the District) provides advanced
wastewater treatment for a service area that encompasses 615 square miles and
includes the majority of the Denver metropolitan area. For over 20 years, Black
& Veatch has provided planning, design and construction phase services for the
District. Currently Black & Veatch is leading a project team that includes Brown
and Caldwell and other consultants working on the single largest improvement
project at the District’s Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility (RWHTF) since the
1970s – The South Secondary Improvements Project.
The RWHTF treats an annual average of 140 million gallons per day (mgd) of
wastewater which is discharged into the South Platte River. Biosolids generated
during treatment are digested, dewatered and disposed of by land application.
The liquid train treatment is divided into two separate complexes, the North
Complex and the South Complex. Both complexes include preliminary, primary
and secondary treatment. The North Complex has achieved nitrification and
denitrification as part of secondary treatment since the 1980’s when Black &
Veatch completed the Nitrification Project, but the South Complex secondary
treatment includes only BOD and TSS removal using a high purity oxygen
process.
The purpose of the project is to increase the ability of the RWHTF to remove
ammonia from the plant effluent and limit the discharge of nitrate into the South
Platte River by upgrading the South Secondary Complex. Additionally, the
project team is charged with providing adequate treatment capacity throughout
both complexes to accommodate growth within the service area through the
year 2023. The design annual average flow of the plant is projected to be 190
mgd by 2023, and thus the renovated South Secondary Complex must be capable
of treating 100 mgd.
Converting the existing high purity oxygen system in the South Secondary
Complex to a three-stage nitrification and denitrification facility similar to the
North Secondary Complex is centerpiece of this project. A byproduct of
biosolids dewatering, centrate discharged from the sludge dewatering
centrifuges, is treated in a separate Centrate and RAS Re-aeration Basin (CaRRB)
as part of this process. The project team for preliminary design was responsible
for evaluating alternative methods to accomplish the project goals and develop a
plan for the expansion of the RWHTF that would meet the project objectives,
including a total project budget of $325 million.
The scope of the South Secondary Improvements Project includes a new primary
effluent pumping station with a rated capacity of 224 mgd; a blower building
that houses five single-stage centrifugal blowers each rated at 29,900 scfm and
BLACK & VEATCH | Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility South Secondary Complex Improvements
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Client Name | PROJECT NAME
driven by 2,000 hp motors; and Electrical/Mechanical Building that houses the
primary switchgear and mechanical HVAC systems; an aeration complex that
includes six aeration basins, three CaRRB units and a tunnel complex to house
equipment and piping; two mixed liquor distribution structures that distribute
flow from the new aeration basins to ten existing secondary clarifiers and serve
as surface wasting classifiers; two new return activated sludge (RAS) pumping
stations to return sludge to the aeration basins and CaRRB; and a significant
amount of site work that is associated with a major expansion to an existing
treatment facility.
The Black & Veatch project team worked to develop a one-plant concept that
would result in similar processes producing similar effluent from the South
Secondary and North Secondary Complexes. Due to the scope and schedule of
this project, the District charged the Black & Veatch Team with the primary
responsibility to complete the preliminary design and selected a final design
consultant to work with District staff throughout the preliminary design effort.
During final design, the Black & Veatch Team will act in an advisory role to
monitor the scope, schedule and cost of the project. This is part of the overall
assignment that the Black & Veatch project team has undertaken as the Capital
Project Program Manager for the District.
Site Plan of the RWHTF showing the South Secondary Improvement Project Facilities
BLACK & VEATCH | Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility South Secondary Complex Improvements
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Client Name | PROJECT NAME
Perspective of the new Aeration Complex from the Southeast
Cutaway view of the Aeration Complex from the West
Cutaway view of the aeration complex from the Northeast
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