AECOM has been tapped by the Regional Municipality of Durham to provide engineering services for upgrades to the Port Darlington Water Pollution Control Plant.

Once complete, the updates are planned to enhance the performance and reliability of the plant while also considering environmental sustainability and the reduction of energy waste and overall operational costs, benefitting both the region and the community.

The plant currently services approximately 50,000 residents in the Town of Bowmanville.

“Having managed some of the world’s most ambitious water and wastewater infrastructure programs, we look forward to delivering unrivaled services that will support the Regional Municipality of Durham in providing local Bowmanville residents with reliable wastewater treatment,” said Beverley Stinson, chief executive of AECOM’s global water business. “Our Sustainable Legacies strategy centres around the role of infrastructure to deliver a better world, and we’re proud that this program presents an opportunity to protect Durham’s waterbodies and greatly enhance its environmental safety and sustainability.”

The four-year contract’s scope of work is comprised of two upgrade projects.

The first will focus on replacing the existing waste gas burner (WGB), which is at the end of its service life, with an enclosed flame WGB. The second will tackle upgrades to Plant 1 liquid treatment systems, the SCADA system, and other vital clean-up work around the Plant.

Key project components include updating the Plant 1 primary and secondary clarifier mechanisms, upgrading the Plant 1 aeration tank aeration system, and full SCADA and PLC programming for a fully integrated plant.

“The Town of Bowmanville is expected to see considerable population growth in the coming years. Bolstering resilience of its wastewater infrastructure is critical to meeting the demands growing communities place on water and wastewater systems,” said Richard Barrett, chief executive of AECOM’s Canada region. “Our unique expertise with retrofit projects bolstered by our familiarity with the Regional Municipality of Durham positions us to deliver these upgrades in a timely manner while minimizing interruption to the existing plant operation.”

AECOM has a long track record of engineering similar retrofits and upgrades of wastewater plants in North America. Their experience includes delivery of the Los Angeles’ Joint Water Pollution Control Plant and New York City’s Wastewater Resiliency Program.