AWWA MTC64554

When complete in the fall of 2007, Orange County Water District's (OCWD's) Groundwater Replenishment System (GWR System) will be one of the largest operating advanced recycled water purification facility (AWPF) in the world. It will produce up to 70 million gallons per day (mgd) of finished product water using microfiltration (MF), reverse osmosis (RO) and ultraviolet radiation (UV). The GWR system is a very large and complex facility. The equipment is very large and unwieldy, with pumps up to 2,250 Hp and pipelines/valves up to 78-inches in diameter. The cornerstone treatment facility is also highly automated requiring extensive instrumentation and controls linking together multiple modular subsystems. Therefore, start-up and testing is crucial to successful implementation of this project. Planning for start-up began during the design of the project and continues through construction. An operational philosophy was developed during the preliminary design that separated the treatment plant into manageable subsystems. The start-up specification defined what was required for Commissioning and Acceptance Testing. The Contractor is responsible for preparing and implementing a comprehensive test plan, calibrating equipment, certifying equipment installation, and coordinating among various subcontractors/vendors. This paper highlights some of the project's detailed requirements to facilitate start-up and testing, and describes what is required by the specifications to prove that the treatment processes work correctly. Particulars of the Contractor's Start-up Plan are discussed, including what types of information must be submitted, who will perform the start-up tasks, and when the work will be performed. By starting early and spending an appropriate amount of effort to implement the test plan, the Start-up Team will know what needs to be done and be able to prove that the system operates as it was intended. Successful start-up will provide the information necessary to obtain the regulatory permits necessary to operate the AWPF into the future. Includes tables.