2025 Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science® Awards Competition Winner

Honor Award - Design

Bee Ridge Water Reclamation Facility Expansion and Conversion to Advanced Wastewater Treatment

Entrant: Carollo Engineers, Inc.
Engineer in Charge: Joseph Barksdale, P.E.
Location: Sarosota, Florida

Entrant Profile

Sarasota County Public Utilities (County) maintains and operates approximately 104,530 water connections, 91,989 wastewater connections, and 142,000 reuse connections. The County hasimplemented an advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) program that will result in the conversion of its three water reclamation facilities (WRF) to produce a higher-quality effluent. The Bee Ridge WaterReclamation Facility (BRWRF) Expansion and Conversion to Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) Project is the first project in the County’s pursuit to replenish resources and ensure future prosperity.

The County retained Carollo Engineers as the design engineer of the enhanced BRWRF.

Carollo Engineers offers over 90 years of specialized experience in water, wastewater, reclamation, infrastructure, water resources planning, and related projects. Our firm has completed tens of thousands of projects for hundreds of clients throughout the U.S. and Canada. Carollo Engineers is one of the top engineering firms in the U.S. dedicated solely to water—it’s all we do. This singular focus, coupled with targeted water expertise, results in cost-effective, innovative, and reliable solutions for our clients.

Project Description

The County is expanding the BRWRF to address the burgeoning needs of Southwest Florida. Originally designed to treat 12 million gallons per day (mgd), the facility’s capacity is set to increase to 18 mgd on a maximum month flow basis. This initiative also upgrades processes to align with Florida’s AWT standards. The project addresses increasing service demand, aging assets, and increasingly stringent regulatory treatment and discharge requirements.

Comprehensive and Integrated Approach

As design engineer, Carollo used its innovative Concentrated Accelerated Motivated Problem-Solving (CAMP®) approach. This proprietary workshop approach brought key personnel from the County, Carollo, and the contractor together for a collaborative and focused effort to accelerate project development. During CAMP®, essential design criteria were confirmed and treatment alternatives were evaluated based on criteria such as established technology, treatment effectiveness, operability, constructability, and flexibility.

In addition to AWT alternatives, the design integrates important considerations, such as odor, noise, aerosol drift control, public accessibility, and flood protection measures. Carollo recommended the construction manager at-risk (CMAR) delivery method to expedite the project timeline, with Garney Construction selected to construct the project. This approach promotes a collaborative environment conducive to better constructability and maintenance of operations, to meet the schedule for project completion by 2025.

Originality and Innovation

Carollo’s creative design successfully navigated site constraints, environmental limitations, and a limited project timeline. The result is a robust, yet compact AWT system that meets rigorous regulatory standards while minimizing impacts on the site’s wetlands and plant operations. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) system will be the largest in Florida, and provides adaptability for future facilities and regulatory changes.

The project was developed in alignment with the Envision™ framework, emphasizing sustainability and resilience at every stage. The project’s social, environmental, and sustainability efforts have been recognized by the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure with a Gold Envision Award to be announced in January 2025. This award is a culmination of the teamwork and collaborative mindset that was fostered at the onset of the project.

Complexity of the Problem

The construction of new facilities and the impacts on existing infrastructure made this project notably complex. The project required significant alterations including the conversion of biological basins into flow equalization basins equipped with a new equalization return pump station. Additionally, the 7.8 million gallon expansion of the existing lined storage pond was critical, alongside upgrades to potable and non-potable water systems. The demolition of outdated components, such as headworks, secondary clarifiers, filters, an abandoned septage receiving station, and several pumping systems, was integral to the project’s design.

The need for continuous and reliable operation of BRWRF is vital to the County’s wastewater services. Plantoperations are being maintained through the development and implementation of several specific protocolsthat were identified before construction began. These will ensure the seamless integration of all new facilities and processes.

The project required the construction of several new facilities, including an advanced headworks with coarse and fine screens, and grit removal systems to protect the downstream processes, most notably the MBR equipment. New installations comprised return-activated sludge and waste-activated sludge pump stations, chemical storage and feed facilities, and a 2-million- gallon reclaimed water storage tank. The project also included a reclaimed water pumping station, operations buildings with meeting space, and an electrical/blower building housing necessary aeration and electrical equipment.

Additional infrastructure improvements encompassed power distribution facilities; a generator building with four backup power generators and fuel storage; and comprehensive grading, paving, and drainage, including stormwater ponds.

The successful navigation of these complex challenges underscores the project’s innovation and adaptability in addressing the County’s changing environmental and regulatory needs.

Contributions to Environmental, Social, Public, and Economic Advancement

The BRWRF project significantly contributes to societal advancement, environmental health, and economic growth. By increasing the WRF’s capacity and enhancing its treatment processes, the facility will reliably serve the area’s growing communities with high-quality treated water. This reduces reliance on groundwater withdrawals and minimizes nutrient discharge into the environment, protecting the local waterways and the area’s economy, which relies on recreation and tourism.

Socially, the project enhances community well-being through improved noise and odor control, increased site safety, and continuous community engagement. The development of a Community Stakeholder Group and the establishment of a visitor center for wastewater education further strengthen community ties and raise awareness of sustainable wastewater management practices.

Economically, the project supports growth by increasing treatment capacity to accommodate population and business expansion. The construction phase is projected to employ over a hundred workers, including local architectural, surveying, environmental, and demolition businesses. Additionally, the project secured an EPA low interest loan for $105 million through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, which is estimated to save the County $22 million in financing costs, while also creating permanent facility operations jobs.

Environmentally, the project enhances effluent quality, reduces nutrient loading into the Phillipi Creek watershed, and improves stormwater management through the design and construction of stormwater facilities to better control runoff and erosion. The project also enhances onsite wetlands by removing invasive species, replanting existing wetlands, and creating new wetland areas, promoting biodiversity and ecological health.

Quality and Performance

The BRWRF expansion project exemplifies a commitment to high-quality deliverables and effective collaboration that allowed the County to embrace the process while being engaged every step of the way. Through comprehensive pair-wise analyses, Carollo and the County selected a biological nutrient removal process coupled with what will be Florida’s largest MBR system. This advanced treatment process incorporates anaerobic, pre-anoxic, aerobic, and post-anoxic zones, facilitating effective nitrification-denitrification and biological phosphorus removal. Several utilities in the U.S. and globally have used various configurations of this treatment process to reliably reduce nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations to produce a highly treated wastewater effluent.

The superior-quality effluent will offer the County flexibility in water reuse options, including sustainable reclaimed water for irrigation, local aquifer recharge, and potentially, indirect potable reuse. It also provides a safeguard for nearby water bodies during intense weather events, mitigating environmental risks from treated effluent storage pond overflows.

As noted in their testimonial, the County is highly satisfied with the design and innovative solutions that Carollo provided, specifying the knowledge, creativity, and solutions that demonstrate an understanding of the County’s needs. The design was delivered on-time and on-budget, and construction is proceeding according to schedule.

Click images to enlarge in separate window.


Construction Equipment at Project Groundbreaking.

BRWRF Pre-Construction Aerial (2020).	BRWRF Current and Future Service Area

Process Flow Diagram for 5-Stage AWT Process	BRWRF Groundbreaking Event, March 2022
	-5-day carbonaceous biochemical oxzygen demand * Total Suspended Solids
MBR Facility	BRWRF Current and Future Permit Requirements

Current Project Status, December 2024	Semiannual Community Stakeholder Group Site Tour, May 2023

Community Stakeholder Group Site Tour, Spring 2025 (Top of new biological nutrient removal basins.)	Rendering of Completed Project (Anticipated 2025).