The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario’s second-fastest growing municipality, has hired infrastructure consulting firm AECOM as the design partner for a three-phase biosolids upgrade project at its water pollution control plant (WPCP).
As part of the design-build team, AECOM will work with Maple Reinders, the project’s construction partner, to help deliver a collaborative approach to meeting the project’s technical, operational, financial, environmental and social objectives.
“As a locally and internationally recognized leader in the design of water and wastewater infrastructure, particularly in biosolids processing, we look forward to delivering holistic, impactful solutions that will assist the Town in continuing to provide its residents with reliable wastewater treatment,” announced Marc Devlin, chief executive of AECOM’s Canada region, in a statement.
The original plant, located just an hour north of Toronto, was built in 1962. It underwent modifications in 1970, 1982, 1997, 1999 and 2001. The most recent upgrades took place in 2009, when officials added four new aeration tanks, four clarifiers, two biosolids storage tanks, a new digester, and a glass-lined biosolids storage tank.
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The latest set of modifications will see upgrades to the plant’s waste activated sludge (WAS) processing by providing new storage and a new thickening system, complete with new polymer and odour control systems, according to AECOM.
Currently, the plant is listed as a Class 4 treatment facility and a Class 3 collection system.
“With the second-highest growth rate in Ontario, this upgrade will help the Town of Bradford be well positioned to serve the community’s considerable population growth targets over the coming years,” announced Ian Dyck, senior vice president with AECOM’s Canadian Water business, in a statement. “Our local team is excited to address the project’s design deliverables in a timely and efficient manner, drawing upon our technical depth of resources and breadth of experience. In addition, we are pleased to work closely with Maple Reinders to provide complementary expertise for this critical infrastructure project,” he added.
The plant made headlines in 2019 over the improper sampling of effluent leaving the facility, and a failure to maintain the plant to a standard that would prevent levels of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) from exceeding allowable limits. The municipality was fined $65,000.
