Cedar Falls Water Treatment Plant Upgrade
Expansion from 18 to 32 million gallons per day, including a new membrane filtration train, clearwell, chemical feed systems and full SCADA integration — all while the existing plant kept producing water.
What made it hard.
The district could not lose a single day of production. The site was bounded by a residential street on one side and the river on the other, leaving no room for laydown or a temporary plant.
Source water turbidity also spiked unpredictably after storms, which meant the new process had to be commissioned in conditions that could not be scheduled.
How we built it.
As progressive design-builder, we set the membrane system and clearwell during design and pre-purchased the long-lead equipment before the GMP was finalized. Construction was phased around the existing treatment train, with new piping tie-ins performed during low-demand windows agreed with operations.
Commissioning followed a written plan that proved each membrane rack independently, then the full train, then the integrated plant under automatic control. Operator training used the installed equipment and the district's own SCADA screens.
Where it landed.
The plant reached its full 32 MGD capacity during the acceptance test and has produced water below 0.05 NTU since handover. The project finished within the GMP and four months ahead of the district's regulatory deadline.
On site.
They treated our plant like it had to keep making water — because it did. Every tie-in was planned with our operators in the room. We never lost production, not once.
Related projects.
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