Thunder Valley Casino

Client:
Thunder Valley Casino

Completed:
2010

Thunder Valley Casino is located in the foothills of the Sierras near Lincoln, CA.   The water, wastewater and recycled water facilities serve the metropolitan Sacramento area’s first casino.  The MBR plant was commissioned in 2003, and continues to be operated by our team today.  Our services are comprehensive, including staffing, monitoring, reporting, and CMMS implementation.  We are also assisting the Casino with special testing to accommodate stricter permitting in the future.

THUNDER VALLEY United Auburn Indian Community Lincoln, California DATES 2003–2010 CAPACITY 700,000 GPD ADF/875,000 GPD PDF TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY Hollow Fiber MBR EFFLUENT DISPOSAL SYSTEM Surface Water Recycled water: landscaping irrigation TREATMENT REQUIREMENTS Permit type: NPDES BOD: 10 mg/L TSS: 10 mg/L Turbidity: Less than 0.2 NTU SERVICES Facility start-up and commissioning Development of O&M guide, SOPs, and safety program Contract operations (6 full-time operators) Process optimization Warranty management

 

Since 2003 Aquality (operating as HSo) has provided comprehensive O&M services for the Thunder Valley Casino’s onsite water, wastewater, and recycled water facilities. The potable water facilities are supplied by a 4-inch connection to the Placer County Water Agency’s distribution system and consist of a 1.0 MG storage tank, domestic water booster pump station, fire flow booster station, and emergency back-up wells. The 350,000 gpd MBR WWTP discharges to Orchard Creek and is closely monitored by the RWQCB under a strict NPDES permit.

Aquality staffed the facilities and developed SOPs and a safety program. Aquality senior operators then worked directly with the contractor, system integrator, and engineers to bring the facility online ahead of schedule.Initial operational challenges included unexpectedly high fats, oil, and grease concentrations in the influent stream from the casino restaurants, which required operators to work closely with engineers, the owner, and a contractor to specify and install active and passive grease interceptors.Operators also faced equipment failures and assisted the owner with handling all associated warranty issues. Aquality has also been instrumental in helping the casino’s engineers to conduct numerous special studies in support of a revised NPDES permit.

Among these studies was a Copper Water-Effect Ratio Study to establish a site-specific adjustment of hardness-dependent CTR metals criteria for copper, per State Implementation Plan protocol.The casino recently expanded to 875,000 gpd, using hollow fiber microfiltration technology. Our O&M support team provided design review, startup/commissioning, and warranty management. Working closely with the contractor, engineers, and casino staff, Aquality ensured the seamless expansion of the treatment facilities.