Redeveloping a Historic Water Treatment Plant for the 21st Century
The $300 million treatment plant will replace the 110-year-old West Parish Filters plant, introducing state-of-the-art technologies to meet modern drinking water standards and optimize reliability for the 21st century.
At a Glance:
- Planning for the new water plant began approximately 10 years ago and identified a multi-phased approach to replacing aging infrastructure and maintaining regulatory compliance.
- Dissolved air flotation (DAF), successfully piloted on site, will remove more organics from source water, reducing the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) to maintain compliance with federal standards.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) financing will allow the new $300 million facility to be constructed on an accelerated schedule by 2028.
Kristen Barrett has more than 25 years of experience in the evaluation, piloting, design, construction, operation, and project management of water treatment facilities.
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Top: Situated on 14,500 acres of protected forest in rural Westfield, Massachusetts, the West Parish treatment plant provides drinking water to 250,000 customers in Springfield, Ludlow, Southwick, Agawam, Longmeadow, and East Longmeadow.
The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission’s (SWSC) West Parish Filters Water Treatment Plant has been a vital source of clean drinking water for the City of Springfield, Massachusetts since the early 1900s. When Allen Hazen, father of Hazen and Sawyer co-founder Richard Hazen, designed West Parish, it was a state-of-the-art facility.
Over a hundred years after its completion, SWSC has partnered with Hazen to embark on a comprehensive upgrade of the West Parish Filters plant. This generational project aims to not only enhance reliability and regulatory compliance but represents an investment in the future of the communities it serves.
At the time of its construction in 1909, West Parish’s filtration system consisted of six sand filters and used nothing more than gravity to move the water. By 1974, new filtration technology was available. Six dual-media filters were added to accommodate increased demand and improve treatment in accordance with the newly enacted Safe Drinking Water Act. And while West Parish provided clean, reliable drinking water for decades since, the existing system is no longer able to remove enough organic matter to meet today’s regulations. As a result, the West Parish Filters plant was in violation of the EPA Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (DBP) starting in late 2018.
Hazen’s partnership with Springfield Water and Sewer Commission extends back to 1905, when Allen Hazen first evaluated potential water sources for the city. In his report, Hazen recommended the Little River as a permanent water supply source.
The administration area of the new West Parish Water Treatment Plant will incorporate accessibility and modern features to support today’s productivity needs. A new flexible space to accommodate educational programs and activities will also welcome visitors to learn about their drinking water.
Considering the past to design for the future
Hazen assembled a project team with experts from across the country to evaluate ten years of historical production data, water usage, and distribution system volumes, and determined that a new 65-mgd facility would meet the water treatment goals while resulting in cost savings for SWSC. The team considered critical design elements to enhance water treatment, ensure sufficient capacity now and in the future, and keep the plant operational during construction.
One of the most pressing concerns at West Parish was the removal of organics from the source water. Data has shown a trend of increasing dissolved natural organic matter (NOM) in impounded surface waters across the northeast due to climate change. Unfortunately, the forest-protected source water supply for West Parish is no exception. As a direct filtration facility, treatment for NOM removal was limited. Because of this, the facility upgrades will include clarification for adequate removal of NOM for the control of disinfection by products (DBPs).
Prior to design and construction, SWSC had successfully piloted dissolved air flotation (DAF) for coagulation and dual-media filtration within the current facility. These technologies will replace the aging sand filters and significantly reduce the amount of organic material that reaches the filters. The design also incorporates future-proofing features like filter media flexibility, intermediate treatment connections, and post-filtration connections. These considerations will allow SWSC to adapt more easily as new challenges from climate change and regulatory demands arise.
The West Parish Water Treatment Plant’s new dissolved air flotation/filtration (DAF/F) system will enhance treatment capacity in a smaller footprint, with reduced construction costs and duration.
Modernization for Today and Tomorrow
The new West Parish Treatment Plant goes beyond infrastructure replacement; it embraces asset-ready Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies. This digital roadmap not only aids in design and construction but also sets SWSC on the path toward a sustainable future. Dashboard-enabled data analytics and visualization tools will inform operational and maintenance decisions and predict costs. Using BIM to modernize facilities, operations, and maintenance consolidates information while preparing the new West Parish plant to leverage new digital solutions in the future.
Combining these modern systems into a century-old treatment plant presented a unique and complex set of challenges. The team from Hazen engaged SWSC in a collaborative and responsive design process, meeting weekly to complete the facility design within a challenging time limit, and to ensure treatment can continue during the construction process. With funding from a low-interest loan through the EPA, the new facility will be constructed on an accelerated schedule by 2028. A groundbreaking was held on October 16, 2024, with Hazen staff in attendance to celebrate the beginning of this transformative project.
