FBMUD 142: Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion to 1.2 MGD
Drone Video Summary
The FBC MUD No. 142 permanent Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is under construction. This plant will service Westheimer Lakes, Westheimer Lakes North, Briscoe Falls, and Creekside Ranch. Once completed, this plant will have the capacity to treat 1.2 million gallons a day of wastewater from the District’s residents. The WWTP project is currently approximately 50 percent complete and will be substantially complete and operational by January 2023.
Water will flow from homes to the plant’s lift stations which will lift the water through the headworks. The headworks filter large rags and debris. The organic material in the water is slowly broken down in the anoxic and aeration basins. The clarifier basins separate the waste material from the water. The remaining water is then pushed through a series of filters before being disinfected by chlorine. The reclaimed water will be pumped into the amenity ponds throughout Westheimer Lakes. All remaining waste is hauled off from the District.
The two circular, concrete structures are called Clarifiers. They separate the waste water from the finer waste material, called sludge. The sludge is returned to assist further treatment at the beginning of the process and the water is disinfected at the rectangular concrete structure called the Chlorine contact basin.
The contractor, C4 Partners, is constructing the headworks structure. This will be the beginning of the wastewater treatment process. The water from the District is pumped through screens at the headworks to capture any large material such as rags and debris. Water then moves into the two smaller anoxic basins next to the headworks. Here, bacteria breaks down nitrogen. This process prevents nutrient pollution and algae “dead zones” when the plant discharges treated water back into the environment.
The water then moves into the two larger basins called the Aeration basins. Air is pumped into the basins to encourage the bacteria to break down organic matter.
Large organic matter settles to the bottom of this basin and is moved into the two long basins called the aeration digester to starve the bacteria. This sludge is pumped into a thickener which is then hauled offsite.
The water with the finer particles continues into the circular clarifiers seen at the beginning.
Fort Bend County MUD No. 142 approved construction of this wastewater treatment plant in October of 2020. Expected completion of the project is the first quarter of 2023.