3 minute read
Dedicated to Water Reuse
With a career spanning over a decade, Kiersten Lee, PE, PMP, has established herself as a prominent figure in the field of commissioning and start-up management. Kiersten started her construction journey as an intern at MWH, and she has overseen and participated in the successful launch of numerous high-profile projects, earning her a stellar reputation as a water reuse and resource recovery expert across the industry.
ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF WATER REUSE
Of her countless achievements, one of the most significant was Kiersten’s instrumental role in operating the first semiconductor water reuse facility in the US. This was a landmark project for the progress of water reuse adoption nationwide.
“Although MWH built the nation’s first semiconductor water reuse plant, this type of facility is not new. We had a smaller version in Israel, and manufacturers across the Pacific Rim have already been doing this. The US is a bit behind the curve, but if we want to bring manufacturing back, we need to be thinking about how to manage the waste streams associated with this kind of manufacturing.”
Working with a global semiconductor manufacturing client, MWH constructed the innovative $400M manufacturing facility, which blends traditional and advanced treatment processes to achieve critical water reuse goals. Within the first year of owner operation, the facility’s state-of-the-art water reuse system reclaimed
over 100 million gallons of water, and recently they achieved the billion-gallon milestone—a win for the manufacturer, the local community, and the environment.
Lee emphasizes that major industries have a significant role to play in water consumption and discharge, making them central to the conversation about sustainability. “Getting to a point where we can comfortably and confidently use reuse processes for our wastewater in a potable sense—that’s a critical hurdle,” Lee remarked.
PASSION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Anyone who works with Kiersten knows that conserving the environment is one of her passions. “I’m Captain Planet at heart, and I’m a huge proponent of eliminating the use of bottled water,” Lee remarked, “Treatment plant discharges are regulated by the EPA, while bottled water is regulated by the FDA. The FDA tries to keep up with the EPA’s drinking water regulations, but sometimes, the FDA’s quality and safety regulations diverge. So bottled water is not as regulated as tap water, and it produces tons of plastic waste.”
Lee’s commitment to sustainability and technical excellence is evident in her work as a key project lead for the $1.3B Bull Run Filtration Facility and Pipeline Program in Portland, OR. In the face of environmental restrictions and a lack of discharge structure, she developed 16 options to effectively treat and reuse nearly 20M gallons of test water.
Releasing the treated water into the environment is impossible, and hauling the water would cost $7 per gallon, equating to $140M for disposal. Having dealt with the same issue on the $825M Southern Delivery System project in 2013, Lee conducted site visits and coordinated with local businesses to develop an option that allowed the test water to be treated before being donated to local landscaping nurseries via the existing irrigation pipelines.
“We didn’t want to take the easy way out by discharging and bringing in more water. We came up with innovative ways to be better stewards of water.”
As a passionate construction professional with a soft spot for the environment, Kiersten Lee continues to raise the bar in engineering excellence. Her expertise, leadership, and innovative problem-solving skills have solidified her position as a trailblazer in the industry.
Author: Alexis Gee
