Worrell Water Technologies announced that its Living Machine system was selected by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to be featured at one of the country’s largest land Border Control Crossings located in Otay Mesa, Calif. A custom designed Living Machine system will provide onsite wastewater treatment and water reuse for this major facility.
In early 2010 Tate Snyder Kimsey, an architecture firm based in Nevada, was working on the new facility at the Otay Mesa Land Port of Entry, and recommended Worrell Water’s Living Machine system to the GSA as a way to promote green technology innovation.
The Living Machine system was selected by the GSA and called out as an innovative green technology that reduces the generation of wastewater and demand for potable water, while increasing the local aquifer recharge. The Living Machine system now will be part of the new 24/7 facility. It will take grey and black water from the facility and purify the water through its advanced wetland system, composed of three different wetland processes, treating up to 1,500 gal of wastewater per day.
Located along the pedestrian walkway into the United States, the system is integrated into the landscape and site design through the careful selection of wall and planting materials. Design Workshop Inc., a landscape architecture firm based in Denver, along with Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects, will provide an intimate landscape experience as the pedestrian pathway ramps above the Living Machine system.
The visible portion of the Living Machine system will host a variety of flora and fauna, while wastewater will flow below the surface in watertight cells and pore spaces between rock particles so there is no smell, mosquitoes or human exposure. The purified water will be re-used for onsite irrigation in this low precipitation area.
Source: Worrell Water Technologies
