Glen Meadows Retirement Community Surface Water Treatment Upgrades (Glean Arm, MD)
Client: Presbyterian Senior Living, Inc.
Contact: Rodney Fenstermacher, Corporate Director of Construction & Plant Assets
Professional Services Provided:
- Construction Administration
- Construction Documents
- Construction Management
- Feasibility Study
- GIS Consulting
- Hydraulic Study
- Inspection/Observations
- Potable Water Design
- Funding Applications
- Surface Water Treatment Design
- FO Filtration Design
- Storage Tank Rehabilitation
ELA Group worked with Presbyterian Senior Living at their Glen Meadows Retirement Community (GMRC) location to develop long-term onsite water infrastructure solutions.
GMRC is a 350-resident, continuing care retirement community located less than 10 miles northeast of the City of Baltimore in the rolling hills of Maryland. The facility has evolved from a 19th-century sanatorium to the only Masterpiece Living Retirement Community in the State of Maryland, following acquisition by Presbyterian Senior Living (PSL). In improving and upgrading the site, PSL faced aging water and wastewater infrastructure, including severe water distribution main leaks and deteriorated water storage tanks. Additionally, the onsite community public water supply wells are impacted by significant storm events, which require boil water advisories for weeks. PSL contracted ELA Group, Inc. to develop onsite long-term water infrastructure solutions.
ELA Group’s Water Resources Engineering Department began by investigating the surface influence of significant storm events exhibited on the groundwater wells. The existing well yields were high, and the groundwater quality was excellent during non-significant storm events. ELA Group Engineers determined the best solution for GCRM to meet their domestic water needs was to permit and construct a surface water treatment plant that used the existing groundwater sources, but is capable of meeting U.S. EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) drinking water quality standards.
To meet the U.S. EPA and MDE drinking water standards, ELA Group redesigned the entire wellhead, treatment, storage, and distribution systems. The ELA Group Water Resources Engineering Department designed a 100,000 gpd ultrafiltration membrane water treatment plant adjacent to the existing membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment plant operations building to treat water to these standards effectively. ELA Group also designed a 32,000 gpd reverse osmosis system to soften water without adding additional dissolved solids to the existing membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Eliminating dissolved solids from the existing MBR WWTP was particularly important to the WWTP operator because of the NPDES permit effluent requirements. The PSL water treatment plant began operation and successfully provides the Glen Meadows Retirement Community with clean, reliable drinking water.
Ultimately, ELA Group provided PSL with a water treatment system that could meet the retirement community’s needs, strict drinking water standards, and budgets faced by the not-for-profit Presbyterian Senior Living organization. The design, permitting, and construction of the GMRC facility also provided the ELA Group’s Water Resources Engineering Department with valuable engineering experience.
