Wastwater Sneak Peak

WaterTAP and newterra staff participate in an SOWC London Wastewater Facility tour with City of London, SOWC and Western University staff

On May 5, SOWC and the City of London hosted preview tours of SOWC’s London Wastewater Facility (LWF) for interested companies wanting to learn more about the soon-to-be-commissioned facility. Throughout the day numerous companies viewed the site to learn about its unique capacity for full-scale development and demonstration of wastewater technologies.

“The London Wastewater Facility provides users with access to municipal wastewater flows directly from the City of London’s Greenway Pollution Control Plant,” said Brenda Lucas, SOWC Executive Director. “This allows users to work within a real-world testing environment for wastewater treatment technologies, providing the research and development facilities needed to enhance and accelerate the innovation process.”

Part of the SOWC Wastewater node and led by Western University, the LWF creates unique and unprecedented capacity for testing and demonstration of technologies. User have access to flows from 1000 m3/day up to 4500 m3/day, and various process streams including primary influent, primary and secondary sludge, and final effluent. Flows are piped directly to dedicated, large private high-bay workspaces within a custom renovated building on site. Users can also access additional process stream flows outdoors ranging from 1000 – 90,000 m3/day. Technical staff and research knowledge is also available to support users.

Wastewater Pipes

Dedicated lines provide the demonstration testing bays with up to 4,500 m^3/d of wastewater effluent from various intake points throughout the municipal facility

“In partnership with the SOWC and Western University, we have built a facility where users can test almost any wastewater technology,” said Geordie Gauld, Division Manager, Wastewater Treatment Operations with the City of London. “It was a complex project to integrate this kind of infrastructure into an operating plant, and the feedback from companies has definitely reinforced that the design of the facility and the ability to directly access wastewater at these high flows is truly unique.”

SOWC’s LWF is substantially complete, and anticipated commissioning is scheduled for June, 2014.

Special thanks to the City of London and Stantec Consulting Ltd., who were responsible for the design and construction of the SOWC facility, for providing tours and detailing the project to our audience throughout the day.

If you are interested in learning more information about the LWF or shaping an industry focused project through one or multiple SOWC facilities and/or partner academic researchers, please contact Brenda Lucas, Executive Director.