Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility Expansion

The $193 million Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility expansion is the cornerstone of Hillsborough County, Florida’s wastewater treatment consolidation program. It triples the facility’s capacity and is the largest capital improvement project in County history. The design-build delivery method allowed the County to manage program risks, promote collaboration, and mitigate community impacts. A key challenge of the project was expanding the existing facility while mitigating historical odor and noise issues. Through innovative design and proactive community engagement, the design-build team resolved these challenges and achieved regional sustainability goals by restoring wetlands, improving system reliability, and improving quality of life.

Design-Build Innovation at Work

In 2014, Florida’s Hillsborough County began enacting its wastewater treatment consolidation program as part of its Capital Improvements Program. Its goals included: improving treatment efficiency, reducing power consumption, and minimizing future rate impacts for county residents. The County planned to demolish the two aging plants and expand the NWRWRF to be the sole wastewater treatment plant for the region. The NWRWRF expansion would require increasing the permitted capacity from 10 million gallons per day (MGD) to 30 MGD to accommodate the additional flows from the two demolished facilities, all while maintaining 100% operation of the facility during construction. The lump-sum GMP included $11.7 million of savings to the County as a result of successful value engineering efforts facilitated by the design-build team, the design-build process, and the highly engaged County.

Design-Build Team

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