Name/Title
Brochure, Utilities, Water Treatment FacilityDescription
Waupun Water Treatment Facility December 2007
Our Goal is Safe, Healthy and Reliable Water for Your Use
Every time you take a drink, wash the dishes, take a shower, or do the laundry, the Waupun Utilities water system delivers the water to your home.
Waupun Utilities supplies electricity, water, and wastewater service to 4,500 customers. The
homes, businesses and industries in our community rely on these services every day of the year for a variety of vital uses. Although sometimes taken for granted, safe, healthy, reliable water supply is our community's economic life blood and a substantial contributor to our quality of life.
Every day, the staff at Waupun Utilities Works diligently to ensure that the water from your tap is of the highest quality. In 2007 Waupun Utilities placed into service a new water treatment plant featuring reverse osmosis softening. The first of its kind in Wisconsin, this new plant reflects our commitment to keeping residents safe, businesses running, and strengthening the future of our community.
Well
Raw water is drawn from a series of wells that are constructed to tap into a reservoir of water underlying the City, called an aquifer.
The aquifer is a layer of sandstone, more than 800 feet below the ground.
The sandstone naturally filters the water, providing a very clean source of water.
Reverse Osmosis
Most of the water passes through a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system.
The RO system removes dissolved minerals, called hardness. It also provides protection against a wide variety of potentially harmful contaminants should they ever be present.
Iron Filters
The raw water from the wells passes through filters to remove dissolved minerals like iron and manganese.
These minerals could negatively affect the water's taste and cause staining in household plumbing fixtures.
De-gas/Blending
Ultra-pure water from the RO system, called permeate, is aerated to remove dissolved gases that might affect water quality.
The water is blended with a side stream from the iron filters to achieve a stable product with the correct hardness balance.
How Reverse Osmosis Works
Osmosis describes the natural process in which substances dissolved in water tend to move from high concentration toward dilute concentration. In reverse osmosis (RO) this process is reversed through the application of pressure across a semi-permeable membrane. The membrane is specially designed to allow water (permeate) to pass through while retaining the dissolved substances like salts and hardness (concentrate).
The product of RO is ultra-pure water that is free of hardness and most dissolved contaminants. The retained salts and hardness are rejected from the membrane and sent to waste. The membranes in a production RO system are configured in a spiral arrangement contained in pressure vessels that are stacked in long tubes.
Finished Water Production
Additives to the blended water include small amounts of chlorine to maintain required disinfectant levels, fluoride to promote healthy teeth, and base to stabilize the water.
The finished product is then ready for consumption.
Water Distribution
The Utility maintains a water delivery system to provide a reliable supply of water to all
users.
Elevated storage tanks in the system ensure adequate supply pressure and provide storage for emergencies, such as fire protection.
Finished Water Delivery
Finished water is pumped into an underground pipe network that delivers the water to users.
The high service pumps are capable of delivering water at peak rates encountered during periods of heavy use.
Quality Control
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the United States Environmental Protection Agency have rules governing public water supplies, establishing standards for the quality of water delivered to your tap. Quality control testing is performed daily to ensure that finished product water meets or exceeds all standards. Electronic sensors strategically placed throughout the plant maintain a constant vigil on the health of the plant. A computer-based controls system allows the plant to be monitored remotely at all times.
Plant History
Waupun Utilities boasts a long, rich history dating back to 1894 when it first began serving the residents of the City of Waupun. In the early 1930s, City officials conducted a study of the quality of the water being supplied to residents, giving specific consideration to the removal of iron and a reduction in hardness. In response to this study, the Utility constructed a 1 mgd (million gallons per day) lime softening plant in 1935.
The lime softening process was utilized for the next seventy years in Waupun, including a major plant upgrade in 1970. In 2005, the Utility embarked on a study of its water treatment system that concluded with the recommendation that the lime softening plant be replaced with a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis softening plant.
The Utility performed onsite pilot testing of reverse osmosis in the fall of 2005 to demonstrate its feasibility for softening Waupun's water. With DNR approval, the Utility moved forward with design and construction of Wisconsin's first municipal softening system utilizing reverse osmosis. The new plant was placed into operation in December 2007.
The Facts
The treatment plant construction was bid in 2006 for a cost of $5.9 million.
The plant can produce up to 2 million gallons of finished water on a peak day
The reverse osmosis system contains enough membrane surface to cover almost four acres.
The City is underlain by a network of water mains with a total length of 51 miles.
The daily consumption of water in a typical residential home equates to 100 gallons per person.
The water system can store over 1 million gallons of finished water to meet peak demands and emergency needs.
The treatment plant is equipped with its own emergency power generator to keep the plant running in the event of a power failure; the 1 MW generator can provide enough energy to power up to 50 homes.
The Waupun Utilities Water Treatment Facility was designed by Applied Technologies, Inc.Acquisition
Accession
2010.0500Source or Donor
Found in collection.Acquisition Method
Found in Collection
