East Chicago, Ind., Water Plant to Use Siemens' Membrane System
East Chicago, Ind., has awarded Siemens a multimillion dollar contract to provide a Memcor pressurized membrane filtration system for a new water treatment plant.
According to an April 7 press release, the 16-million gallon per day system, which will treat water from Lake Michigan, will be the first large-scale pressurized membrane plant in Indiana. It will also be Siemens’ 12th membrane plant on Lake Michigan.
American Structurepoint and Black & Veatch will provide design engineering and plant construction services. The system is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2011.
The existing water treatment plant in East Chicago was built in 1964 and has reached the end of its design life expectancy. The deterioration of the plant has resulted in concerns about operational reliability. Because of the multimillion dollar investment needed to rehabilitate and refurbish the existing facility, the city has elected to construct a new treatment plant inland from the current location. Once the new plant is operating, the old plant will be demolished and the land will be incorporated into the Marquette Plan for revitalizing the Lake Michigan waterfront.
The Memcor CP pressurized membrane filtration system will consist of six skids, each with 240 membrane modules. This technology offers a lower life-cycle cost and a smaller footprint than conventional treatment systems. It also provides a greater than 4-log removal of Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and bacteria; over 1.5-log virus rejection; and a silt density index of less than 2.0, regardless of changing feed water conditions.