Already Effective, University Reuse Plan To Be Improved

Students and staff at Penn State University seem to have reason to rejoice as the university’s water reuse system takes off.

The municipalities of the Centre Region, located in the same State College, PA area as the university, adopted a special study by Penn State last month that will allow the university additional uses of the water produced by its treatment plant, according to Centre Daily Times.

Additional piping to convey the water has already been installed on campus, with more piping to come, said Penn State energy and engineering Director Robert Cooper.

The issue arose when Penn State had been notified by the state Department of Environmental Protection in March that the installation of the lines had not yet been approved and the university was in violation of the region’s Act 537 sewage facilities plan, the Centre Daily Times reported.

The sewage facilities plan will help guide future sewage decisions in the community. According to the university’s master plan, Cooper added, the campus uses 310,000 gallons of reused water per day.

Stormwater is reintroduced into the ground through stormwater facilities on campus and is pumped out of the ground for use on campus. The objective, Cooper said, is to pump as little out of the ground as possible.

During the past 25 years, Penn State has reduced its potable water use by 25 percent, according to the Centre Daily Times. During that same time, the university has added about 10,000 students and 8 million square feet of building space.

After the water is treated by the campus wastewater treatment facility, it is pumped to local spray fields. More than 90 percent of this irrigated water is used to recharge about 1.7 million gallons to the regional water table per day.

“But we think we can do a little better,” Cooper said. “Our wastewater treatment plan is starting to show its age, and while it's meeting its permit conditions and functioning properly, it’s coming to the end of its functional life.”

Just last year, Penn State installed a new system that would incorporate micro-filtration, activated carbon, and water softening.

An improvement to the wastewater plant would allow it to produce Class A reuse water, which will be stored in a water tower. That tower was taken offline until that time.

According to the Centre Daily Times, the improvements will cost about $61.6 million and are expected to be completed in November or December of this year.

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Reuse Solutions Center.