Cloudcroft PURe Indirect Potable WWTP
The Village of Cloudcroft constructed the first indirect potable reuse wastewater treatment plant in New Mexico. The wastewater treatment plant treats wastewater flows to better-than drinking water quality for blending with local water sources and augmentation into the potable water supply. Unfortunately, the plant hit some water-related snags preventing the plant’s grand opening several years ago.
An epoxy coating system, applied during construction, was intended to waterproof the 6 individual cells in the plant. However, the cells began leaking wastewater to the outside. Watertightness is an imperative for a wastewater treatment facility for efficiency, to maintain NSF certification and to meet EPA regulatory requirements.
The city’s WWTP operators asked Livingston Associates, a New Mexico-based architecture and engineering firm, to recommend a solution. Livingston went to its structural engineering expert consultant Quiroga Pfeiffer Eng. Corp., who suggested Xypex. Subsequently, Livingston contacted the Xypex distributor who provided technical support and supplied the Xypex Concentrate and Megamix repair mortars used on the job.
The Xypex Concentrate was applied to the interior walls of the WWTP to ensure that the water at each phase of the cleansing wouldn’t leach into the other cells and contaminate the process. Megamix I was then applied over the Xypex Concentrate to provide a smooth finish as exposed aggregate was a concern. Megamix II is a thick, high-strength repair mortar with a tenacious tensile bond was used at the base of one of the interior cells and all construction joints at the base of the exterior and interior cell walls were repaired with Xypex Patch’n Plug.
In total, the team coated 16,000 square feet of concrete with Xypex Concentrate and Megamix I and repaired 3,600 square feet with Megamix II. As well, the team repaired 900 linear feet of construction joints with Patch’n Plug.
To-date, the cells have not shown any signs of leaking and the WWTP plant is scheduled to be opened in 2014 with attendance by New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez.