ALBUQUERQUE, Nov. 9  –  More than $200 million in upgrades are slated for the community’s Southside Water Reclamation Plant over the next decade, officials with the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority announced today.

The Water Authority’s Southside Water Reclamation Plant treats all the municipal wastewater (i.e., sewage) generated by Water Authority customers in Albuquerque and parts of Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties. 

“More than half a million people rely on this plant, but at more than 50 years old, the facility is in need of serious rehabilitation and modernization,” said Water Authority Board Chairman Art De La Cruz.  “Between $200 million and $250 million in upgrades are planned for the plant over the next decade.”

2011 saw completion of an $8 million project to replace the plant’s gas chlorine disinfection system with an ultraviolet disinfection system, making the plant safer and more efficient.  

Of the planned improvements, some major highlights include:

1. Replacement of the outdated headworks and dewatering facilities with a state-of-the-art combined facility that will also incorporate advanced odor-control technology.
2. Rehabilitation and replacement of primary clarifiers .  This is the first process where solids are removed from the wastewater.   
3. Rehabilitation of other treatment processes including blowers, aeration basins, dissolved air flotation thickening, and anaerobic digesters .  These process improvements are integral to the efficient operation of the treatment process.
4. Aesthetic improvements, including a new master plan for landscaping and a landscaped berm around the perimeter of the facility to reduce site impacts for the residents and traveling public.

“The planned improvements will bring our facility up to current wastewater treatment plant standards, make the plant safer, more efficient, and a better neighbor to the surrounding communities,” De La Cruz said.   “They will also allow us to continue operating in accordance with state and federal regulations in the decades to come.”