This paper
reviews the overall regulatory process and key regulatory aspects in the case history of a
60 MGD submerged ultrafiltration membrane facility that is under construction in
Racine, Wisconsin. In particular, the paper highlights a novel approach to providing
system redundancy with operational strategies rather than capital expenditure in a manner
tailored to the selected membrane technology. The general discussion of these regulatory
topics and the specific case history at Racine touches on several important issues not
addressed prescriptively, if at all, in the US Environmental Protection Agency Draft Membrane Filtration Guidance
Manual (June 2003). Thus, this review provides useful insights for the industry as it
works towards a coherent regulatory strategy for using membranes in water treatment
applications. In addition, these issues can have significant capital cost implications. The
novel regulatory approaches employed at Racine contributed to a total capital cost of less
than $0.35 per gallon of capacity, which is quite favorable in comparison to other projects
of similar size and scope. Includes tables, figure.