Rapid population growth pushed the treatment needs for the Airport WRF in Chandler, Arizona, from 5 mgd to 27 mgd over two decades, necessitating four plant upgrades during this time. Prior to the latest plant upgrade, the plant had never had a grit removal system installed. As a result, they were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars every two to three years to remove grit that had collected throughout the plant.

After paying to fight the effects of unchecked grit in their plant for decades, the plant wanted a better solution. Rather than dealing with all the problems grit was causing throughout the plant, they wanted to stop the grit from getting into the plant in the first place. The plant had limited space available for a headworks upgrade and required a low-maintenance solution that could provide their required performance with a small footprint.

The plant hired an independent third party to sample, measure and evaluate the characteristic of grit entering their plant to find the best way to stop it. After evaluating various grit removal technologies, it was found that a HeadCell-based system was the ideal solution. After the system was installed, they tested the new HeadCell / TeaCup / Grit Snail system and found that the performance was even better than they had anticipated.

Learn how Airport WRF eliminated its grit removal problem and saved money on maintenance with HeadCell Advanced Grit Management by reading the full case study here.