The Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) is an innovative water treatment project in eastern Virginia designed to further protect the region’s environment, enhance the sustainability of the region’s long-term groundwater supply and help address environmental pressures such as Chesapeake Bay restoration, sea level rise and saltwater intrusion.
Good to Know
Our water is too valuable to waste. SWIFT provides a sustainable resource to replenish groundwater for generations to come.
The SWIFT Research Center is now open and replenishing the Potomac Aquifer with up to one million gallons of drinking water quality SWIFT Water® daily. Visit SWIFT
A Forward Looking Solution
SWIFT Water®
SWIFT’s Advanced Water Treatment Process produces drinking water quality SWIFT Water® through a multi-step disinfection process that is used throughout the country and the world.
Replenishing
Groundwater is being used in eastern Virginia at rates faster than it can be naturally replaced. Adding SWIFT Water® back into the ground will replenish this natural resource and protect the Potomac Aquifer from further damage caused by overuse.
Sustainable
SWIFT will give our communities a sustainable source of groundwater. This resource will support our economy by providing businesses with the water they need to operate.
Taking water out of the ground at the current rate has led to sinking of land, or land subsidence, in some parts of eastern Virginia. This makes us more vulnerable to rising sea levels and the associated impacts.
Replenishing the aquifer with HRSD’s SWIFT Water® can help slow or even reverse the sinking of land due to withdrawal. Scientists believe that overuse of the aquifer causes about 25 percent of the sinking of land in parts of eastern Virginia.
Replenishing our overdrawn aquifer can improve the environment and help our communities adapt to rising seas, contributing to the resiliency of our region.
Restoring the health and productivity of the Chesapeake Bay largely depends on reducing the amount of nutrients and sediment that enter Chesapeake Bay waters.
After completion of the first phase of full-scale SWIFT implementation in spring 2029, HRSD will achieve approximately 45% of the nutrient reductions needed for the James River as part of Virginia’s Watershed Implementation Plan 3 (WIP3), reducing the total amount of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen reaching receiving streams, and ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.
Witness our Advanced Water Treatment and how we replenish the Potomac Aquifer at our SWIFT Research Center
The extensive and systematic steps of SWIFT’s Carbon-Based Advanced Water Treatment Process ensure that SWIFT Water® is reliable and protective of our groundwater resources.
Our water is carefully and continuously monitored to meet strict drinking water safety standards.
At the SWIFT Research Center, scientists and engineers will treat up to one million gallons of water each day to meet drinking water quality standards and demonstrate safely adding it to the Potomac Aquifer.
THE EIGHT-STEP CARBON-BASED ADVANCED WATER TREATMENT PROCESS PRODUCES UP TO ONE MILLION GALLONS OF SWIFT WATER® DAILY.
THE SWIFT RESEARCH CENTER, LOCATED AT HRSD'S NANSEMOND TREATMENT PLANT, BEGAN REPLENISHING THE POTOMAC AQUIFER IN MAY 2018. TOURS ARE AVAILABLE WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS BETWEEN 8:00 A.M. AND 2:00 P.M.
MONITORING ENSURES THE SWIFT WATER® PRODUCED AT THE SWIFT RESEARCH CENTER IS DRINKING WATER QUALITY, RELIABLE AND SECURE.
AN EXTENSOMETER INSTALLED BY THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (USGS) WILL MEASURE SWIFT’S PROGRESS AT REPLENISHING GROUNDWATER AND REDUCING LAND SUBSIDENCE.
