Last week, The Water Council (TWC) selected Tomorrow Water for its annual Pilot Program. This year, Tomorrow Water’s wastewater treatment technology, Proteus, will be installed at one of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD)’s facilities.
The Water Council (TWC) is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit organization focused on advancing innovation in the water industry. Each year, their Pilot Program supports the on-site demonstration of a new and innovative water technology in real-world conditions at a participating facility in the Milwaukee area.
After a competitive selection process, Tomorrow Water's Proteus technology was chosen for TWC's 2021 Pilot Program because of its potential to benefit the Great Lakes and local wastewater treatment facilities. The Proteus technology will be installed on-site for a demonstration pilot at MMSD’s South Shore Water Reclamation Facility.
The Proteus up-flow media filter technology is designed to increase the tolerance of wastewater treatment plants to peak flow events caused by rainstorms, thus safeguarding plant performance in the face of aging sewer systems and erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.
For MMSD, whose Jones Island and South Shore facilities treat 150 million gallons of wastewater on a dry day but roughly 630 million gallons during a rainstorm, innovation in wet weather flow management is a long-term priority. The agency is also interested in Proteus more broadly as an advanced primary treatment system which may be able to provide cost-effective retrofit opportunities to improve downstream treatment capacity through carbon redirection and footprint savings.
Tomorrow Water’s Proteus filtration product provides simultaneous removal of suspended solids and digestion of organic contaminants from wastewater without the use of chemicals. The technology was recently featured by Global Water Intelligence as a "Primary Treatment Pioneer" for its clever use of split-bed aeration and cross-shaped media to improve wastewater treatment plant resilience and flexibility.
The Proteus pilot project at MMSD's South Shore wastewater treatment plant is expected to operate from October of 2021 until March of 2022 and will be available for touring.
"Supporting the progression and demonstration of new water technologies is one of The Water Council's main objectives," said Karen Frost, Vice President of Economic Development and Innovation for The Water Council. "The Pilot Program provides companies like Tomorrow Water with the opportunity to take those innovative solutions and pilot them in Wisconsin."
This is the second demonstration pilot project for Proteus at a municipal wastewater treatment facility, after an earlier project successfully concluded at the Anthony Ragnone Treatment Plant in Genesee County, Michigan.
SOURCE: Tomorrow Water, via PR Newswire
