City says Water Treatment Plant 3 producing safe water despite Trident filter issues; week-long maintenance planned

Public Works presented an update on Water Treatment Plant 3 and the Trident filtration unit, saying the plant remains operational and is producing clean, regulatory-compliant water even as operators manage higher turbidity caused by degraded filter media and missing grout.

"The Trident, it is, functional," the presenter, Ernesto, said. He explained that inspection revealed missing grout around the filter panels and lost sand and anthracite media in some basins, which has caused the unit to trip and require more frequent backwashes. Staff are accelerating an overdue media and grout rehabilitation that had been scheduled as part of maintenance; the filters are beyond their 10-year recommended maintenance interval, the presentation noted.

Ernesto urged residents to conserve water during the maintenance window. "We need the people to conserve water whenever this plant gets into this maintenance mode because it will be offline for about a week," he said. Staff said the work is funded from prior budgeted line items and that operators have been onsite frequently to keep the plant producing safe water while repairs are planned.

Why it matters: The Trident unit is a key treatment step for the city's water supply. While the city reported no regulatory exceedances, residents were asked to conserve water during the repair window to keep distribution storage adequate and avoid service impacts.