Houston SEWPP Asset Management Program

To continue providing high-quality drinking water to the Southeast Texas region, the City of Houston’s (the City) Southeast Water Purification Plant (SEWPP) is renewing its assets at the existing Treatment Modules 1 and 2 (TM1 and TM2). The SEWPP is currently rated for a capacity of 200 MGD. As technical advisor, Garver is helping the City prioritize investment at the SEWPP and providing guidance and consistency across the Drinking Water Operations Branch. We’re also working with the City to evaluate process improvements, optimization of operational and maintenance (O&M) expenses, asset renewal planning, and capital program planning.

Our team is updating the 2015 SEWPP asset management database and providing a 10-year O&M capital improvements plan (CIP) and business cases for the elements of the first five years of capital improvement projects. The CIP prioritizes projects based on risk, minimizes capacity impacts to continuous operations of the facility, schedules and considers the integration of systems and equipment, and evenly distributes the investment in the CIP program on an annual basis.

We’re also reviewing O&M procedures to optimize resources, including evaluating existing tools used at the Plant in comparison to newer, emerging technologies. Following our evaluation, we will determine potential cost-effective enhancements to include all operations and maintenance impacts.

Our team is planning for resiliency at the SEWPP to increase its resilience in the face of changes in water quality, natural hazards, and emerging regulations. We’re also assisting the City with regulatory compliance and coordinating with TCEQ on changes to treatment processes, chemical application locations, disinfectant concentration-time studies, and other needs.