Case Studies

Racine Water Utility's (RWU) commitment to safe, high-quality drinking water for its rapidly growing system of 200,000 customers was galvanized after a Cryptosporidium outbreak crippled a neighboring community. To proactively protect its customers, RWU commissioned a new 50-million-gallon-per-day submerged ultrafiltration membrane facility—Wisconsin's first and the nation's largest—that would set the industry standard for membrane projects.

Designed by CDM, this $20 million advanced disinfection system represents a technological leap and will provide critical, multi-barrier protection from protozoan and bacteriological contaminants. The value-added facility maximizes savings, enhances system performance, and delivers exceptional quality at an unprecedented total project cost of $0.40 per gallon of capacity—far below the industry average.

Project benefits include:

• A novel equipment procurement process identified a cost-effective solution.
• Unique post-filtration installation reduces capital cost and energy and chemical usage, and maximizes membrane life.
• Reclaimed brownfield site beautifies Racine's lakefront.
• An integrated technical review committee collaborated to address numerous technical and regulatory challenges.
• An innovative air gap design prevents contamination and optimizes the site's hydraulic profile.
• A temperature-based capacity rating assures the ability to treat an extreme range of water temperatures and demands.
• The membrane facility provides an absolute physical barrier to water-borne pathogens, such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium.

CLIENT: Racine Water Utility

LOCATION: Racine, Wisconsin