NEW YORK—Construction recently began on what is claimed to be the world’s largest ultraviolet (UV) disinfection facility. A joint venture of Malcolm Pirnie/CH2M HILL is serving as the construction management team for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Catskill-Delaware Ultraviolet Disinfection Facility. Other partners include URS. The project designer is a joint venture of Hazen and Sawyer/CDM.

Located in Westchester County, N.Y., the facility will use 56, low-pressure, high-output UV reactors to treat an average of 1.3 billion gallons of water daily and will have capacity to treat more than 2 billion gallons daily. Scheduled for completion in September 2014, this single facility will triple the North American drinking water UV capacity.

"This is a landmark facility within the drinking water industry," said Paul Whitener, CH2M HILL’s project manager.

New York City has the largest unfiltered surface water supply in the world, delivering more than 1.3 billion gallons of water daily to 9 million residents in New York City and the upstate area. Through gravity flow, the Catskill and Delaware aqueducts meet most of the demand.