Project Description:
The American River Trout Hatchery (ARTH) operated by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife is a critical trout hatchery for maintaining fishery stocks and restocking efforts in California. The ARTH obtains fish eggs or fingerling fish from other hatcheries or collects fish eggs from remote sites. Fish eggs are incubated and hatched in a flow through system and reared to various sizes to accommodate fisheries management strategies. The ARTH’s current goal for fish rearing is approximately one million fish per year.
Drought conditions in California and subsequent rising supply water temperatures at ARTH posed a severe risk to hatchery production, which threatened the California fisheries dependent on successful fish production efforts. Emergency federal funding was allocated to address the problem. Integrated Aqua Systems (IAS) was selected to design, build, supply and commission an incoming water filtration and disinfection system as well as a flow-through chilling system to mitigate the risk to hatchery production.
Integrated Aqua Systems, Inc. provided design services, equipment, project management and commissioning phase services for the project. IAS delivered an integrated design-build-supply-commission solution for the project. The incoming filtration system supplied provides 40µ screening at a design rate of 1,800 gpm using a microscreen drum filter. Water is then disinfected with dual UV sterilizers which provide a UV dose of 318mJ/cm2 designed to target and prevent the introduction of Costia, a lethal protozoan. Dual 130 ton chillers with plate & frame heat exchangers and a heat recovery recirculation system provide a 10°F ΔT at 900 gpm, maintaining the ideal temperature for fish spawning even during events with elevated source water temperatures.
Influent Treatment Upgrade:
After successfully operating for 9 years, the influent mechanical filtration system was upgraded in 2023 to the latest drum filter technology available to the industry, the X-Series HEX drum filter and AquaPLC™ Intelligent Drum Filter Controls from Integrated Aqua Systems. A single F-Series HEX drum filter was upgraded to dual redundant X-Series drum filters for increased capacity, finer solids removal, and improved operational control of the supply water treatment system for the hatchery. The drum filter system is controlled by the AquaPLC™ Intelligent Drum Filter Controller exclusively available from IAS.
