Over 35 professionals from our firm alone worked on this $24 million project. In addition to design services, we provided construction administration and observation services for this two-year build.

The City of Lakewood, Ohio, wanted to greatly reduce untreated sewage discharges from its sewer system into Lake Erie and the Rocky River. Working on several projects to achieve this, the most significant improvement at the wastewater treatment plant is the addition of the new High Rate Treatment (HRT) facility. 

A Storm Water Management Model estimated the wet weather HRT system's flow rates, and the design provided initial parameters for treating wet-weather flow. Our firm worked with the city to evaluate and select an HRT system by completing a six-week pilot study to assess treatment efficiency, capital and operation and maintenance costs, and constructability economic analysis of Veolia Water Technologies' ACTIFLO® and BIOACTIFLO® processes. 

The full-scale HRT system is located adjacent to the WWTP and is sized to handle 35 MGD. During wet-weather events, more than 30 MGD flows are diverted from the WWTP to the HRT facility, providing a combined wet-weather treatment capacity of 65 MGD.

An average treatment facility usually takes 24 hours for water to be treated by running through the wastewater treatment plant. The new high-rate facility takes the combined sewer overflow water and treats it within 20 minutes before discharging it.

The effluent connection pipe was constructed from the HRT into the Lakewood Storm Sewer System and, ultimately, into the river. It was highly unique to build a pipe under a river! We worked with the Army Corps of Engineers and designed custom construction techniques to achieve our desired results.

The HRT system now complies with Ohio EPA's NPDES permit requirements to address CSO overflows near the plant.