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SFBS Members! Join us for pizza and beer for our October Dinner meeting with a presentation on City of San Jose (City) Regional Wastewater Facility’s (RWF) new Digested Sludge Dewatering Facility Project.

The San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant Master Plan (PMP) was adopted by the San Jose City Council in November 2013 and by Santa Clara City Council in December 2013, allowing staff to begin critical infrastructure improvement at the Regional Wastewater Facility, including this project for the Digested Sludge Dewatering Facility as one of the major high priority CIP projects. To support these goals, the PMP envisioned a comprehensive Biosolids Management Plan that would transition from the current open lagoons and drying bed process to an enclosed, mechanical treatment system with the resulting dewatered biosolids hauled off-site. This transition was intended to reduce the footprint of the biosolids management facilities to enable other uses of land currently occupied by sludge stabilization lagoons and drying beds, reduce odors in the surrounding community, allow the City to develop multiple and diversified biosolids end-use options, and create flexibility to respond to future regulations governing the beneficial use of biosolids.

In 2019, the Walsh/B&V team was selected to finalize preliminary and detailed design and to construct the Dewatering Facility as part of a Progressive Design-Build project. The new Digested Sludge Dewatering Facility Project includes centrifuge dewatering and associated ancillary equipment to include polymer storage and feed equipment, sludge feed pumps, centrate pumping, and dewatered sludge cake storage and truck loading facilities. Additionally, spaces will be provided for a control room, restroom and locker facilities, break room, and other personnel spaces required for the operations and maintenance of the facility. Other facilities included as a part of the project are digested sludge storage and transfer pumping and conveyance piping system for collecting and directing sludge to the new Dewatering Facility. Design is complete and construction started in Q4 2021.

Speaker Bio: 

Mark Wilson is a Senior Project Manager with Black & Veatch.  He holds s a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, and a master’s degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering.  Mark has led the design for numerous large and complex wastewater designs emphasizing on solids handling and energy recovery throughout his 30+ year career.  He led the design team for the City of San Jose’s new Digested Sludge Dewatering Facility.  In addition, his most recent projects include a complete biosolids and energy recovery facility for IRWD in southern California, design of the batch tanks, sludge cooling, and heating water systems for OCSD’s TPAD facilities at Plant 2, and an energy recovery system as part of the North East Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Renewable Energy Facility. 

 Jesse Wallin 

Jesse Wallin is a Project Manager with Black & Veatch and is a registered Civil Engineer in the state of California. Jesse has a passion for wastewater treatment related infrastructure improvements and has worked predominantly on wastewater related planning, design, and construction projects throughout his 15 year tenure with Black & Veatch. He has been working continuously at the Santa Clara/San Jose Regional Wastewater Facility since 2013 as part of several different projects, most recently as Engineering Manager for the Digested Sludge Dewatering Facility.  

Cost: $35 members, $60 non-members, $25 students