Tucson’s AOP Water Treatment Facility Wins Design Award

Tucson Water’s Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) Water Treatment Facility was awarded the 2015 Grand Prize in Design from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES).

As part of a commitment to provide reliable drinking water, the city of Tucson, Arizona completed the installation of a new Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) Water Treatment Facility in January, 2014. The system uses six TrojanUVPhox® chambers and supplies purified water to nearly 50,000 people.

The technology is treating groundwater contaminated with 1,4-dioxane and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs ), which were used in aircraft manufacturing companies in the Tucson airport area from the 1940s to 1970s.

1,4-dioxane is a contaminant not easily removed with conventional technologies, but TrojanUV advanced oxidation systems reduce VOCs, breaking them down into their harmless components almost instantly.

The AAEES Award celebrates the best in environmental projects and programs. The Academy states that the complexity of the design, integration and implementation of the project was “unprecedented in Arizona” and that:

“Transforming a significant groundwater quality problem into a high-quality drinking water supply has provided several social and economic benefits to the community. The new AOP facility restores the Tucson Airport Remediation Project facilities to full effectiveness without compromising water quality commitments or requiring additional water supplies for blending.”