NORESCO Wins $100M Upgrade Contract for Detroit Great Lakes Water Authority

Phase 2 of a progressive design-build project adds new screened effluent pump station, reuse water stream and resilience improvements

Aerial view of the Great Lakes Water Authority’s Water Resource Recovery Facility in Detroit, showing treatment tanks, pump stations and supporting infrastructure across the 140-acre site. — Courtesy of GLWA

The Great Lakes Water Authority’s Water Resource Recovery Facility in Detroit, the largest single-site wastewater treatment plant in the U.S., will undergo $100 million in upgrades by NORESCO, including replacement of its nearly 50-year-old effluent pump station and addition of a new reuse water system.

Updated 4:01 PM EDT, Sept. 8, 2025

The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) has engaged NORESCO to carry out $100 million in improvements at its Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) in Detroit, the nation’s largest single-site wastewater treatment plant.

The work, structured as Phase 2 of a progressive design-build contract, expands on earlier planning efforts and is aimed at bolstering resiliency while cutting potable water use. Construction began in August 2025 and is scheduled for completion in May 2028, according to Peter Thomson, PE, DBIA, senior manager of water and wastewater engineering at NORESCO.

The design is being led by Jacobs Solutions Inc., with F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates LLC serving as a major subcontractor. Work is being executed in phases to allow WRRF operations to continue, though temporary shut-downs of portions of the plant will be required.

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The scope centers on replacing a nearly 50-year-old screened final effluent pump station with a new facility designed to handle 60 million gallons per day of non-potable water.

A new 4-MGD reuse stream will also be added to supply filtered and disinfected water for internal process needs.

GLWA expects the reuse systems to displace about 50% of current potable water consumption—approximately 1.1 billion gallons annually—with potable water kept in reserve as backup.

Thomson said the project’s technical complexity stems from constructing the new facility directly above the plant’s secondary effluent conduit, which conveys up to 930 MGD of flow during wet weather.

Funding for the project comes through service charge revenues paid by member partner communities, which support bond financing, unless federal grants are awarded. The initiative is one of more than 150 active and planned capital improvement projects included in GLWA’s 10-year, $2.3-billion capital improvement plan.

Phase 1 of the progressive design-build contract was limited to planning and design, with no physical construction. That stage scoped the work, prepared design plans and specifications, and established projected costs, setting the stage for the current construction phase.

When complete, the new pump station is expected to reduce electricity use by about 3 million kWh annually, coupled with long-term water-efficiency gains. GLWA anticipates that these reductions will generate substantial annual cost savings and pay for the project over its service life.

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Troy Walters, president and CEO of NORESCO, said in a news release that the company will keep working with GLWA to upgrade its facilities, improve reliability, and lower operating costs while aligning resources with demand.

“The infrastructure upgrade project, especially modernizing the nearly 50-year-old SFE pump station, addresses [these objectives] through equipment rehabilitation and system resilience improvements,” he said.

Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).

Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction and community issues, including finance, law and real estate. He has reported for Adweek and the San Diego Daily Transcript and led a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif. He served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and as managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage. At Engineering News-Record, Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure and megaprojects, regulatory developments and business trends across the U.S. and global construction sectors.

email: gottliebb@enr.com | office: (248) 786-1591