By Jeff Ashley, PE

The design and construction of a water treatment plant is a collaborative effort between engineers, owners/operators, contractors, manufacturers, regulators, and funding agencies. While the design responsibilities lie with the engineering team, typically, the contractor and manufacturers work with plant operations staff during the commissioning phase.

Commissioning demonstrates that the water treatment plant processes, as designed and constructed, will operate reliably to meet drinking water standards. The commissioning process is even more complex when the project involves rehabilitating certain plant components and retrofitting the plant with new processes and equipment.