AWWA ACE60064

The objective of this project was to turn an existing 1.5 mgd secondary treatment process/plant on 1.2 acres of useable land into a 3 mgd tertiary treatment process that can produce reuse water to the highest reuse standards in the State of Arizona. The Randolph Park Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) in Tucson, Arizona has been in operation as a 1.5 mgd secondary treatment facility since 1975. The facility has had a shutdown period since 1995 when a golf course expansion terminated flow to the facility. With the implementation of an Inter-Governmental Agreement, as well as regulatory changes in water quality requirements, this facility needed to be reactivated, expanded and upgraded to a 3 mgd tertiary treatment WRF, with the highest possible water quality standards for reuse (Class A+) in the State of Arizona. Since start of operation of this facility, the plant has met and significantly exceeded these permitting requirements. The benefits and significance of this project include: highest quality of reuse water in the State of Arizona made available for wetlands use and subsequent recharge to a severely depleted aquifer; highest quality of reuse water in the State of Arizona made available for reuse in the City of Tucson's reuse system and as irrigation for an adjacent golf course; and, doubled reuse production at an existing facility and reduced wastewater flow to a downstream facility. This is a truly unique application of new technology within existing facility constraints to obtain the highest quality (Class A+) of reuse water in the State of Arizona. Given our dependence on this dwindling resource we can only expect regulatory requirements for wastewater treatment effluent to increase, resulting in direct reuse becoming an acceptable practice, as well as necessary. Includes tables, figures.