Achieving Long-term Success with MBR Technology at the City of Healdsburg Wastewater Treatment Plant

One of the most important considerations when investing in technology is reliability, especially during periods of stress. In Sonoma County, 60 miles north of San Francisco, the City of Healdsburg Wastewater Treatment Plant has been running reliably for more than 10 years.

Commissioned in 2008, the plant uses a MemPulse® Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) system with B40N membranes. Originally designed for an average flow of 1.4 million gallons a day, with a sustained peak of over 4 million gallons a day, over 10 years later the plant is meeting three-day peaks at over 95 percent of flow with those original membranes, offering incredibly reliable, effective and robust operation in such a large-scale sewage treatment plant.

Even during the rainy season, when peak flows can reach 7 million gallons a day for extended periods of time, the membranes continue to perform well. The region also has seen an increase in wineries and distilleries in recent years, and the plant’s MBR system has handled the mix of light domestic waste with light industrial waste with no issues.

Those original membranes continue to cope with whatever challenges the weather or local industry sends their way.

In the words of David Hambly, Wastewater Operations Foreman at City of Healdsburg Utilities Department: “I don’t know why anyone has anything else besides an MBR plant because it makes awesome effluent.”

Watch the video for more insight from the City of Healdsburg Utilities Department team and from Evoqua Water Technologies, to understand more about the plant and the MBR system and technologies it uses.