On-Demand, Gravity Powered, Ceramic Filtration Facility: Forget What You Know About How a WTP is Supposed to Operate.

The City and County of Butte-Silver Bow (BSB) serves the public water supply system from three surface water sources. An administrative order from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has resulted in the need to add filtration to the Basin Creek source. Initial efforts focused on site selection, pilot testing, hydraulic analysis, distribution system modeling, and process selection. Based on these initial efforts, a pressurized membrane filtration process was selected . The new facility has a capacity of 7 MGD. The treatment process includes fine straining, chemical injection with hydraulic jet rapid mixing, pressurized hydraulic detention, ceramic membrane filtration, corrosion control capabilities, and finished water disinfection.