A new state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant serving the UC Davis campus will be transitioning into operation beginning this month. The $15.3 million facility replaces an older, inefficient treatment plant, and has been designed to provide heightened treatment and expand the campus's ability to handle future growth. The new facility, located in a rural area south of the main UC Davis campus, south of Interstate 80 and east of Old Davis Road, will have a permitted capacity of 2.8 million gallons a day. It replaces the existing 52-year-old wastewater treatment plant on the main campus that has a capacity to treat 2.5 million gallons daily. The new plant includes advanced filtration treatment processes and will provide disinfection using ultraviolet light. Treated water will be released into the south fork of Putah Creek, at the same spot currently used by the existing plant. The old wastewater treatment plant has been criticized by environmental groups and regulators for its limited capacity, and has prompted concern in the community about the water quality of discharges into Putah Creek. The new facility is expected to meet--and even exceed--all regulatory requirements, and alleviate the worries of neighbors. "This plant will provide increased capacity and reliability to accommodate campus expansion," said Julie McNeal, campus director of environmental health and safety. "It was designed to be state of the art-to take campus wastewater treatment to a whole new level." Funding for the plant construction was provided by the state through general obligation bonds. Design and construction of the project was overseen by the campus office of Architects and Engineers. UC Davis worked in collaboration with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board during the planning and construction of the new plant. "We are encouraged and very happy that the university is going to start the tertiary treatment plant," said Richard McHenry, water resources control engineer in the board's Sacramento office. "We believe the higher level of treatment will go a long way toward protecting water quality." The older wastewater facility will be phased out of operation this fall as the new plant comes on line. Eventually, the old treatment plant along the campus arboretum will be removed to make way for a new chilled water plant. The campus has been working for several months to plan startup of the new facilities. "Our goal is to establish a framework that will allow us to smoothly begin operations at the new wastewater treatment plant while maintaining permit compliance, environmental protection and worker safety," said David Phillips, campus associate engineer. Several steps are involved before the new wastewater treatment plant is fully operational. In October, the university will be running fresh water tests on the new facility. A second phase will involve filling the new treatment plant with sludge to "seed" the plant and get it ready to receive untreated material. The conversion between the former plant and the new facility will then take place in December, with the new facility expected to be fully operating by early 2000.