Water Treatment Facility Consulting Services

City of Montpelier, Vermont

The City of Montpelier has utilized the Berlin Pond as a drinking source since 1957. Water has historically been transmitted to the City by gravity, with chlorination and fluoridation serving as the only treatment methods.

Following a 1974 comprehensive water study, the City planned for a surface water treatment facility. However, the recommendations of this study were never implemented. Robert E. Dufresne, with the assistance of Naomi R. Johnson, completed a Basis of Final Design Report for the Berlin Pond treatment facility in 1991 while at the firm Dufresne-Henry, Inc. This report included the following components:

• Evaluation of current and projected water demands.
• Hydrological investigation to determine source safe yield.
• Economic and noneconomic comparison of treatment alternatives.
• Treatment facility design criteria.
• Onsite pilot comparisons for demonstrated use of coagulants and filter media.

The source water treatment project was completed in the year 2000 with the construction of a 4.0 MGD filtration plant. Dufresne & Associates, PC provided consulting engineering services during the construction phase and developed a GIS based source protection plan for the Berlin Pond. The source protection plan was the Grand Award Winner for the Vermont Section of ACEC.

KEY FEATURES

• Constant pressure variable flow finished water pumping system.
• Package stainless steel insulated treatment units.
• Recycle treatment schemes and flow equalization.
• PLC based SCADA system for plant automation and reduced operational costs.
• Raw water preoxidation using KMn04 followed by Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) for THM precursor removal as well as taste and odor control.
• Lightning protection using grounding loops.
• Dedicated floor space for future expansion.