Project Award – City of Winnipeg – NEWPCC Headworks

The City of Winnipeg has broken ground on their $272 million Headworks Facility project at the North End Water Pollution Control Centre (NEWPCC) which is phase 1 of the 3-part plant upgrade. The Red River Solutions partnership was awarded the Design Build contract for the Headworks upgrade and Waste’n WaterTech was happy to play our part in supplying key pieces of process equipment. This facility will be the City of Winnipeg’s second plant to employ both FSM perforated plate filterscreens and Hydro International grit removal.

The majority of water from the city is treated by the North End plant and there are rising concerns over the safety of Lake Winnipeg where the wastewater from the city ultimately ends up. The goal to effectively clean prior to discharge and to have the capacity for future loads was at risk due to material cost escalations and delays during COVID.

Innovative solutions were needed to keep the project on track and on budget. We were able to reduce the number of required screens by 20% through the use of the alpha-beta dual angle FSM filterscreens which nearly doubles the screen surface area below the water level.

Grit washing and dewatering was also a concern as the City has very high standards for the final product and so Hydro International enlisted their largest lineup of GritCleanse units at an impressive 10’ diameter. This equipment accomplishes both washing and dewatering producing a final grit that is >90% total solids and <5% organic content which exceeds the City’s requirements.

The final stroke of cost saving ingenuity was the addition of JDV’s Level LODOR bin covers and distribution system. This solution distributes solids to fully utilize each bin reducing the number of trucks going to the landfill. Additionally and more importantly, the cover provides a means to contain the odorous gases coming off the waste solids which allowed for a smaller odour treatment system.

The size, challenges and Design Build style of this project created both an opportunity and a necessity for innovation which we will help bring to life throughout the execution of this project.