The Loch Lomond Drinking Water Treatment Facility tanks hold up to 33 million litres of clean water.
A new drinking water facility has officially opened in east Saint John.
The Loch Lomond Drinking Water Treatment Facility cleans water from Latimer Lake more thoroughly than in the past, by removing all solid organic matter instead of just disinfecting it.
The old facility couldn’t remove as much organic matter as this new “state of the art” facility, which removes all organic matter through expert filtration.
The water even exceeds provincial and national standards, according to plant manager Peter Larsen.
“One of the aspects of removing the solids is less build up in the pipes, and the distribution network, less solids entering the system, less chance for bacteria and harmful items to hide in behind the solids,” he said during a plant tour Monday.
Some more video from today. On the right is how the water looks when it first arrives from Latimer Lake, to on the left when it is fully cleaned. The facility cleans 75 million litres a day. pic.twitter.com/1ePvnlz5Q2
— Danielle McCreadie (@danimccreadie) June 10, 2019
The $57.3 million facility is one of two water treatment facilities in the city, and will service majority of Saint John residents.
Larsen says besides being even cleaner, this new water tastes better too.
“Algae blooms, you may have some fish smells sometimes. All those aspects should be removed, and will be removed and especially once we oxidize with the chlorine for disinfection, that will remove a lot of that taste and odour issues,” he said.
It’s all part of the city’s $216.8 million Safe, Clean Drinking Water project, the biggest municipal project in New Brunswick’s history.
Brent McGovern, the city’s water commissioner, says removing all the organic matter from the raw water will also have a big impact on infrastructure like pipes.
“Before, as you can appreciate, we’d have those organic matter either settle out in pipes that when there’s a large fire or some sort of large water demand, people would get dirty water coming through their taps,” he said.
McGovern says the new plant will also aim to reduce boil water advisory’s by cleaning up the entire system.
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- The inside of the facility.
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- The organic matter, or “sludge,” is skimmed off and composted.
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- The clean water underneath is then filtered and disinfected.
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- Right: raw water from Latimer Lake, left: the finished product.
From Lake to Glass
Thanks to gravity, raw water flows from nearby Latimer Lake to the Loch Lomond facility without pumping. Larsen says it is then treated with chemicals to collect and solidify waste and organic matter.
Next, it is pumped with air, which float the organic matter, often referred to as “sludge,” to the surface. It’s then skimmed off, pressed into “cakes” and shipped out to a composting facility in Fredericton. Since the facility has opened, it has removed around 15 tons of sludge.
The clean water underneath goes onto the next stage, where it is filtered, disinfected, and stored in 3 large water tanks. Then it goes out to Saint John water customers through the city’s distribution network.
Together, those tanks hold 33 million litres of water, 11 in each tank.
Larsen says from start to finish, the cleaning process takes about two hours. The facility produces 75 million litres of clean water each day.
