The City of Nicholasville is located just south of the City of Lexington, and is one of Kentucky's fastest growing communities. In the early 1990s, GRW prepared a long-range master plan for the City which created a road map for the orderly modular expansion of the city's water treatment plant from its 3 MGD capacity to a future build-out capacity of 15 MGD. The plant was subsequently expanded from 3 MGD to 6 MGD in 1992. Recently, GRW assisted the City with the construction of an expansion/upgrade from 6 MGD to 9 MGD.
A few of the key improvements included raw water platform improvements (up to 9 MGD of reliable pump operation); a new 4 MGD pump; new two-stage chemical mix facility; new 3 MGD train of conventional vertical flocculation and rectangular sedimentation basin, and renovation of other four existing flocculation and sedimentation basins; five new filters (up to 12 MGD of filtration capacity); two new 300,000 gallon clearwells; new parallel high service pumping facility; new 1,500 kw generator; major chemical feed facility renovations/replacements; and a new SCADA system.
As a participant in the EPA's Area-Wide Optimization Program (AWOP), the City of Nicholasville was recognized by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet for demonstrated success in producing drinking water that consistently met or exceeded state water quality standards.