The Tres Rios Water Reclamation Facility is the centralized biosolids processing facility for Pima County’s eight wastewater reclamation facilities. In addition to the task of cleaning wastewater, the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department also opted to facilitate the capture of energy and nutrients. The scope of this project involves designing and constructing a nutrient recovery facility for the purpose of reducing operations and maintenance costs specifically the capture of phosphorus as struvite which has a market value as a fertilizer additive.

The Right Team Makes All The Difference

The success of the project was came down to assembling the right team. The
experience, expertise, complementary capabilities and commitment by the team to a stellar project outcome was evident in myriad discussions about complicated topics like nutrient sequestration and processing systems, as well as addressing possible outcomes and project logistics. This teamwork was essential when it came to working with European companies, as the technology of struvite recovery is European technology. Overcoming those obstacles to find a project delivery method that best suited the Struvite Recovery Project was possible because of the team collaboration cost savings, specialty nature of the struvite recovery process, and incentives to expedite delivery.

Design-Build Team

Client/Owner:	Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department
Design-Build Firm:	HDR Inc.
General Contractor:	Quanta Electric Power Construction
Engineer:	Quanta Electric Power Construction
Construction Duration:	13 Months
Project Cost:	$7,400,000.00

Photo Credit: David Badger