Integrated research facility to open at Canadian wastewater treatment plant

The University of Calgary and The City of Calgary will launch a $38.5m Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA) facility at the Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Alberta, Canada.

The facility, which will be used to carry out research on wastewater treatment technologies, will be the first of its kind facility to be integrated inside a fully operational wastewater treatment plant.

Researchers from the university will co-ordinate with municipal operators at the facility to develop advanced technologies and knowledge for cleaner water, better protected ecosystem and improved public health.

Along with the wastewater plant, the site will now house 12 experimental streams, an analytical laboratory and a small-scale treatment facility inside the plant.

The Pine Creek Waste Water treatment plant was built at a cost of $430m and commissioned in May 2010. Construction on the facility commenced in 2004.

The facility has a capacity to treat up to 100 mega-litres of wastewater per day (ML/d). It serves around 250,000 local residents and treats generated wastewater from south-west and south-eastern parts of Calgary.

Spanning across an area of 320 acres, the facility treats effluent in the region and discharges it into the Bow River.

The Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant was set up once the city’s Fish Creek and Bonnybrook plants were reaching capacity.

---

Image: Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Centre. Photo: Courtesy of The City of Calgary.