City Chooses Aria for Water Treatment Plant

Olney’s long-awaited new water treatment plant took a major step forward Aug. 24 when the City Council accepted its engineer’s recommendation to use Aria membrane filtration technology in the new facility.

Kirt Harle of Jacob & Martin told councilmembers that Aria emerged as the clear choice after months of pilot testing against competing Du-Pont Memcor technology.

The City completed the six- to seven-month pilot study at the end of July, testing the systems on Olney’s own raw water and analyzing how each would perform in a full-scale plant. The Council’s selection allows engineers to design the new plant specifically around the Aria system.

Mr. Harle said Aria separated itself from DuPont in several important areas, including the amount of waste generated, warranty protection, technical support and cost.

Aria offers a 10-year full-replacement warranty on its membrane modules, compared with three years of full replacement from DuPont followed by seven years of declining prorated coverage.

Aria also has two support personnel based in Texas, compared with none for DuPont, Mr. Harle said.

The upfront price was another major difference. Aria’s proposed capital cost was about $220,000 less than DuPont’s for the membrane skids, pumps, chemical- cleaning equipment and related components.

The projected long-term operating costs were even more favorable. When engineers calculated chemical and electricity costs and reserves for eventual membrane replacement, Aria’s estimated annual operation and maintenance costs were about one-third of DuPont’s, Mr. Harle said. Aria also has 47 operating plants in Texas compared with 20 for DuPont.

The membrane modules have an industry-standard expected life of roughly 10 years, although Mr. Harle said some Aria installations are approaching 20 years on their original membranes. He said Aria representatives believe Olney’s relatively good raw-water quality, combined with planned pretreatment, could extend their useful life substantially.

Replacing all of the modules would currently cost about $160,000, and Mr. Harle recommended the City establish a reserve to prepare for eventual replacement.

The City chose membrane technology because it can provide more consis- tent finished water even as the quality of Lake Cooper water changes with weather and lake levels.

“With membranes, it’s an absolute barrier,” Mr. Harle said, describing the finished water as a superior and more consistent product than conventional treatment.

The project is now about one-third of the way through an estimated three- to three-and-a-halfyear process. The next major step is submitting the pilot-study report to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, whose review is expected to take about six months.

After TCEQ approval, engineers can proceed with final design, bidding and ultimately construction of Olney’s new water plant.