The Southeast Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority's (Authority) Clyde Potts Reservoir
has been serving the residents of Morristown New Jersey for over 70 years. Over that time, the
treatment facilities have evolved in response to new water quality regulations. The original
treatment, constructed in 1935 was limited to chloramination and pH adjustment with lime. In
1984, the Authority constructed a direct pressure filtration plant in response to the new turbidity
standards. In 1998, the Authority constructed a 0.5 MGD demonstration membrane treatment
plant to comply with the requirements of the Surface Water Treatment Rule. The demonstration
facility enabled the Authority to assess the effectiveness of this relatively new technology and
gain valuable experience and operating data. The demonstration facility was procured by
performing a desktop treatment evaluation and a series of pilot tests and then bidding of the
membrane system. The membranes provided for the demonstration facility were a pressurized
type. Based on the operation of the demonstration plant, in 2000 the Authority commenced with
the design of a full-scale 2.5 MGD membrane plant. The new plant, which uses immersed
membranes, was placed into successful operation in November 2004. The project presented
several challenges including the following:
based on the Owner's experience with a pressurized membrane system, was a different
membrane system warranted for the full-scale plant given advances in technology?;
as part of the demonstration plant, the membranes were procured by bidding of the
membranes separately from the installation contract, was there a "better" way to
implement the entire membrane project, and should the Owner consider design build or sole
sourcing the membranes?;
given the rapid advancements in membrane technology, what design enhancements
could be made to the facility to prevent the system from becoming obsolete?; and,
there were no sewers in the vicinity of the site and therefore all residuals needed to be
either recycled, disposed of in a local stream, or hauled off site. The full scale
plant recycles 99.9% of the raw water. Waste discharge is limited to recovery and
maintenance cleans.
The Authority's response to these challenges is presented in this paper. In addition, the membrane
operating history is discussed. After 2 years of operation, the membrane cleaning has
exceeded design expectations. Currently recovery cleans are being performed every 3 months.
Since the membranes that were used had only been recently introduced by the manufacturer at
the time of construction, approximately 2 years of operating data is available and is
discussed. The Owner has also implemented a web based membrane management system with
the membrane vendor. The performance of this state of the art web based diagnostic system is
also discussed. Includes tables.