PROJECT SUMMARY

This project is the largest pellet softening system built in the United States and at the time of construction was just the second plant in the U.S. that utilizes this technology. This pellet softening project allowed the Commerce City community to address the water hardness issues that the city has been struggling with for over 50 years.

The scope of work on this CMAR water treatment improvement project included pellet softening treatment, disinfection upgrades, and administration building improvements. Major improvements included: precipitation softening to remove calcium hardness via precipitation of calcium carbonate on calcium carbonate pellets, use of carbon dioxide to reduce the pH of the softened water and detention time to stabilize the calcium carbonate precipitation reaction, filtration to remove entrained calcium carbonate particles, replacement of existing chlorine gas disinfection with liquid sodium hypochlorite disinfection, and ancillary support functions including an administration building, emergency generator, and electrical and mechanical rooms. This project had a very aggressive schedule during the height of the COVID pandemic. Although the team had to work through some delays that extended the original schedule the project was able to come on-line prior to the high flow season.