Basin Creek Water Treatment Plant Butte, Montana HDR; Robert Peccia & Associates Missoula, Montana The new $30 million treatment plant is the first in the United States to use a cutting-edge ceramic membrane filtration system. Common in Japan and Europe, ceramic is more durable and chemical resistant, and has a longer life expectancy than commonly used polymer filters. Ceramic filters also waste significantly less water, resulting in 99.95 percent backwash recovery, well above the standard 85 to 95 percent recovery rate of conventional treatment technology. The treatment plant can process up to 7 million gallons of water per day and employs gravity to reduce energy consumption and make it unnecessary to pump water to the distribution system, except in instances of extreme demand. MAY / JUNE 2018 ENGINEERING INC. 21