Overview

Kutztown Borough (Kutztown) has approximately 1,800 water customers. Included within that total is Kutztown University. The cyclical nature of a college campus population results in the Kutztown water system having more variability in the average day water demand and production. Nitrate levels were increasing from surrounding agricultural lands and we were contracted to perform the necessary engineering design, permitting, bidding, construction phase, and construction observation services for a nitrate removal system at the Borough’s existing 2.0 mgd Water Treatment Plant (WTP).

The Kutztown Water System is comprised of several major components. Source water comes from four (4) wells. All the wells are located on a 100 acre tract referred to as the Borough Farm, which provides ample wellhead protection for the water supply. In the late 1990s, it was determined that the wells were groundwater sources under the direct influence of surface water (GUDI). As such, Kutztown proceeded with the construction of a surface water filtration treatment plant. The WTP is rated at 2.0 mgd and was designed and constructed with the ability to be expanded to 3.0 mgd if future growth was such that it was needed.

The Borough was concerned with the levels of nitrate in its drinking water supply. Outside of the wellhead protection area, the area as a whole is generally surrounded by farmland, and historically intensive agricultural land use resulted in nitrate levels slowly rising over the years. Entech was contracted to perform the necessary engineering design, pilot testing, permitting, bidding, construction phase, and construction observation services for a nitrate removal system at the Borough’s existing Water Treatment Plant (WTP). In addition to the nitrate removal process, the project included several space upgrades, including a training room, truck garage, office space, and maintenance room.

The nitrate removal system was designed with a four (4) vessel treatment system to meet the required design criteria at the current WTP capacity of 2.0 million gallons per day (mgd), but also allows for a potential future influent nitrate level of 15.0 mg/l to be reduced down to 6.0 mg/l. The nitrate removal system included treatment vessels with nitrate selective resin, automated control system including a control panel for SCADA interface, brine system – saturator, storage tank and pump, bag filter, water softening system, and associated controls and instrumentation.