SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, JAN 22, 2019 --WesTech Engineering, Inc. (WesTech) has been awarded a contract to design and build a full-scale groundwater nitrate treatment solution, featuring the breakthrough Microvi MNE™ technology, for the Cucamonga Valley Water District (CVWD) in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The project is a collaborative delivery between WesTech and CVWD, and is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2019.
The multi-million-dollar turnkey project will reduce nitrate contamination without producing a significant waste stream, thus allowing CVWD to restore production from a critical local groundwater resource in a cost-effective manner. The full-scale system has the potential to provide over 2 billion gallons of clean drinking water per year by bringing three wells back online.
Ensuring a reliable and robust water supply is critical in the Rancho Cucamonga region, where economic investment and population growth continue to thrive.
CVWD awarded the contract to WesTech, after a thorough evaluation of the Microvi MNE technology as the best candidate to meet rigorous technical requirements and the aggressive completion timeline. Key areas assessed by the District include lifecycle costs, ease of operation, robustness and the lack of secondary waste production.
"We have concluded the WesTech Microvi MNE technology is the right solution to advance our commitment to maximize local water resources in a cost-effective, sustainable manner," said John Bosler, Assistant General Manager of CVWD.
"WesTech's 45 years of expertise in water and wastewater solutions engineering and equipment design, along with our experience providing turnkey solutions, will allow us to eliminate unnecessary steps and move forward on time and within budget," said Rex Plaizier, CEO of WesTech. "By using the Microvi MNE process, the new facility should have a 98.5% water recovery rate from the wells resulting in a very low 20-year life-cycle cost for the District."
"Nitrate is one of the world's leading groundwater pollutants. In the U.S. alone, thousands of communities are struggling with high and increasing levels of nitrate," said Dr. Fatemeh Shirazi, CEO and CTO of Microvi. "Microvi MNE provides a sustainable, cost effective alternative to decades-old technologies which produce a significant waste stream—this means we can enable more communities to access clean water, equitably and affordably."
Microvi MNE, the next-generation biological solution for water and wastewater treatment, combines proprietary Microvi technology (MicroNiche Engineering) with proprietary WesTech process equipment, for a groundbreaking approach to biological treatment. It is approved by the California Division of Drinking Water and has received NSF/ANSI61 consumer safety certification for use in treating drinking water.
Microvi MNE is a single-pass system that requires minimal operation time and maintenance, while eliminating the need for biosolids treatment and disposal. Customized integrations of the Microvi MNE process for various applications have provided consistent nitrate removal with a significantly smaller footprint, minimal biosolids production, reduced pumping and aeration requirements, and reduced energy costs. The solution is operator friendly, stable, robust, and can be used in existing infrastructure.
The technology uses novel biocatalytic composites (biocatalysts) that intensify biological processes, while maintaining a controlled population of microorganisms at a much higher density than existing technologies. Despite the complexity of the biocatalysts themselves, the design and operation of the systems are simple. Microvi's technologies have been implemented in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. for drinking water, municipal wastewater, and industrial applications.
WesTech has a global alliance agreement to commercialize the Microvi MNE solution for the water and wastewater industries. Learn more at www.microvi.com.
