CDM Smith

Scope Of Work

Cutting-edge water treatment innovations, designed and built by CDM Smith, are enabling the company to reuse process water safely in food production.

Demand is trending upward for one of the world’s largest producers of potato products. The J.R. Simplot Company (Simplot) has seen steady growth in its French fry and potato product business in recent years. To meet that growth and increase efficiency, Simplot expanded by building a new, large production facility in Caldwell, Idaho. Inspired by its core values of respect for resources, spirit of innovation and passion for people, the company set ambitious zero discharge water management objectives for the new facility. Simplot then enlisted CDM Smith to design and build a process water treatment system that would accomplish the company’s goals of discharging no water to local streams or city sewers and producing treated return water suitable for reuse in the food production process.

CDM Smith pulled together an integrated team of engineering and construction professionals, subcontractors and vendors and delivered an innovative, first-of-its-kind process water treatment and return plant (PWTRP) for Simplot within an aggressive one-year schedule. Using design-build contracting and delivery, CDM Smith and Simplot were able to collaborate at each phase of the project to achieve process quality, cost and schedule goals. For instance, smart site design early on allowed for common-wall construction, minimizing piping throughout the PWTRP, reducing operating and capital costs, and decreasing the plant’s overall footprint. Similarly, design-build enabled the project to be delivered on budget and the PWTRP to be operational before the new production facility went online.

The PWTRP met Simplot’s challenging water management objectives through an innovative treatment system that reduces dependence on groundwater supplies, maintains land application and hydraulic crop requirements, and advances the company’s mission of sustainability. Treatment technologies incorporated in the PWTRP include primary clarification, anaerobic fermentation, enhanced biological nutrient removal for nitrogen and phosphorus (without the use of chemicals), and activated sludge with membrane bioreactors (MBR) followed by reverse osmosis (RO) and chlorine disinfection.