Turning Stormwater and Landfill Leachate into Suitable RO Feed Water

Pinellas County Utilities (County) Solid Waste Department receives an average of 3,000 tons per day of municipal solid waste. The bulk of the waste stream is incinerated at their 75 MW waste to energy facility. Cooling towers remove process heat and cool the incinerator off-gas by evaporative cooling. Faced with the combined challenges of a deteriorated lime softening system and consent order to meet National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements, the County implemented a project to replace an aging lime softening facility with a 2.5 MGD integrated membrane system. The new facility is being designed to treat water from an onsite 100-MG brackish stormwater pond, which has particularly poor water quality due to the influence of landfill leachate.