Challenge

Located in Northwest Colorado, the Town of Oak Creek is a modest-sized community with a diverse landscape of mountainous peaks and rolling ranch land.  Anticipating the spring run-off season and the need to treat a wide range of raw water quality, the Town of Oak Creek developed a fast track, design-build schedule to find a solution to its water treatment needs.

The town's water treatment system was an antiquated 1920’s conventional water treatment plant, which had been updated sporadically over time, but was worn out.  The town needed a new system that would be cost effective and easy to operate and maintain by one person. 

Solution

After careful evaluation, the design-build team recommended a water treatment system that included a submerged membrane package system, which offered a small footprint, low headroom and the flexibility to meet future drinking water regulations.

The packaged membrane system consists of two Siemens Water Technologies' MEMCOR® XS units.  The system is a skid mounted, self-reliable unit. 

• All required controls, instrumentation, blowers, compressors and pumps needed for a fully functional system are included.
• For easier access, modules are removed from the front of the unit. The system requires less height than the other systems of its capacity--meeting the building height requirements.
• With each module only weighing 12.5 lbs, the system also allows reduced operator maintenance as only one plant operator is required to maintain the system. 

Result

Using one unit, the Town produces 200 to 400 gpm. The packaged system went fully operational on October 5, 2004, and is meeting every expectation according to Jim Photos, the city plant manager.