Good to the Last Drop

High-tech treatment plant cleans the dirtiest water

By Jeremy Harrell
Daily Reporter Staff

The first cup of water to come from the $54.3 million water-treatment plant in Appleton tasted like success to Donald J. Voogt, the project manager who oversaw the two-year job.

"I took the first drink late on the night of July 16th," said Voogt, with McMahon Associates Inc., Neenah. "It was very good, very palatable. When we had the mayor's open house later, that's what I had for a snack: Dixie cups of drinking water."

The treatment plant, construction for which began in 1999 and finished in the summer of 2001, is the largest surface-water ultrafiltration plant in the country. It handles more than 10 million gallons of water from Lake Winnebago every day, and at peak, it could clean 24 million gallons, Voogt said.

Ultrafiltration is one of several methods for removing odors and unsavory tastes from drinking water, and it means that every drop of water the plant processes travels through millions of membranes small enough to catch viruses, Voogt said.

"All the water has to pass through 5.5 million of these little straws," he said. "There are 5.5 million of these little membranes, each the size of a pencil lead."

Before reaching the membranes, the water also passes through a series of carbon filters so citizens in the Appleton area won't have to hold their noses while sipping from their drinking glasses. That the water is enjoyable is quite an accomplishment, given Lake Winnebago's murky makeup, Voogt said.

"It's so high in organics," he said. "It turns green in the summer when the algae blooms. In the summer, if you drive by, it smells rotten. The plant takes raw lake water and makes it drinkable."

The ultrafiltration method relies on the latest techniques, ensuring that the Appleton Water Treatment Plant will keep pace with water-quality standards for years to come, Voogt said. But the plant's position on the cutting edge will likely evaporate because technology is evolving at a rapid pace, he said.

Water music

Nonetheless, the treatment facility is a landmark, not the least because of the unique project-delivery method the city used on the job.

After selecting McMahon to design the plant, city officials hired The Boldt Company, Appleton, to serve as the project's construction manager.

Boldt, which performed none of the construction, and McMahon worked as partners, acting as clearinghouses for the 28 bid packages and hundreds of material and equipment contracts, Voogt said.

"Oh, that turned out terrific," he said. "Every bit of it got bid publicly. I'd hate to speculate on how many dollars were saved."

McMahon and Boldt oversaw an aggressive construction schedule, with dozens of contractors taking part in the project.

Not only did McMahon draw up the nuts and bolts of the treatment process itself, but its designers also fashioned an exterior that Voogt said complimented the stainless-steel apparatuses hidden inside.

"We wanted to give it a clean, high-tech look consistent with what's inside," he said. "It's white, with a lot of angles."

And lurking inside the 105,000-square-foot building are 28,000 cubic yards of concrete, more than a million pounds of reinforcing steel and thousands of feet of stainless steel piping. Added to that is a 5-million-gallon reservoir, Voogt said.

Plant operators have easy access to the facility's operation, with automated controls scattered throughout the building, he said.

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