| July 10, 2007
(Harrisburg, Pa.) The Northampton Water Treatment Plant – an 8 million gallon per day drinking water treatment facility located in North Whitehall Township, Pa. – has achieved the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification. This is the first water treatment plant in the nation to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, which sets design and construction guidelines for buildings that save energy, use recycled building materials, and minimize their impact on the environment.
Gannett Fleming designed the $18.6 million facility, which began operating in July 2006. The facility withdraws water from the Lehigh River and Spring Mill Reservoir; completes clarification, filtration, and ultra-violet disinfection processes to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements; and pumps the water to more than 14,500 customers in Northampton and Lehigh counties.
The idea to build green came from Gannett Fleming designers, as the result of
a collaborative effort between the Environmental Resources and Facilities Divisions in Gannett Fleming’s Harrisburg, Pa., office. The Facilities Division has several LEED® certified professionals who lent their expertise to this unique project.
Among its many environmental benefits, the facility was constructed using slag concrete, which includes a mixture of cement and recycled slag (a recycled byproduct from steelmaking). The building's superstructure envelope was also computer modeled prior to design to ensure energy efficiency, resulting in lower heating and cooling costs. The plant substructure also extends three stories underground to maximize natural insulation.
Other green features at the plant include the use of daylighting to illuminate offices, energy-saving lighting controls throughout the building, the use of fast growth lumber, recycled rubber flooring, and systems designed to minimize water use.
For more information about the Northampton Water Treatment Plant project, please contact William W. Allis, Jr., P.E., manager of Gannett Fleming’s Water Process and Operation Group, via e-mail.
For more information about Gannett Fleming’s LEED® certified professionals, please contact Chip McInnes, AIA, LEED® AP, an architectural project manager with the firm, via e-mail.
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