Ecovie Designed NCR HQ Water System Commissioned

NCR World headquarters in Midtown, Atlanta is LEED Platinum certified and uses a newly installed unique water system designed and supplied by Ecovie.

Updated: January 30, 2025

Ecovie worked with engineering firm Integral Group to develop the overall design. Georgia Water Tanks, the local Georgia representative for Ecovie implemented the design and worked with mechanical contractor McKenney's through installation and start up. Ecovie and Georgia Water Tanks supplied equipment for rainwater and nuisance groundwater collection, working closely with Integral Group on conceptual design and layout while providing and integrating equipment from our key suppliers Intewa, Aqua, and QuantumFlo. This is a two-phase project with the Phase 1 tower complete and the Phase 2 tower coming on line soon.

Rainwater Capture:

From the 48,000 square foot Phase 1 tower, rainwater is directed through Intewa PURAIN Filters for storage in the 48,000 gallon concrete cistern in the building's lower utility area. As water is needed for cooling tower make-up, irrigation, and toilet flushing, water is transferred through sediment filtration and UV disinfection, as per the Georgia State plumbing code, to a 3,000-gallon buffer tank. The system also captured condensate from the air conditioners, which can add up to thousands of gallons of clean water every day in the summer. Soon, Phase 2 will be adding another 30,000 square feet of catchment.

Nuisance Groundwater:

One of the more unique features of this water system is that foundation water is collected for use on the property. This in itself is not unique, but environmental tests on-site showed that the water was contaminated with several VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and would require treatment before discharge. Typically, in such a case, treated water would be discharged and not used. In this case, we are treating up to 20,000 gallons a day for non-potable use on site, depending on how much groundwater is present. The purification method used is an advanced oxidation process (AOP) with high-intensity UV and carbon filtration to bring the water into environmental compliance.

Building Water Use:

With cooling tower make-up, toilet flushing, and irrigation, projected water demand is over 10,000 gallons per day in winter and over 20,000 gallons per day in the summer. Collected water can supply almost all of the 5+ million gallons needed for these uses. The triplex, 330 GPM, QuantumFlo booster system assures all demands are met. The treatment flow of 12 GPM to the 3,000-gallon buffer tank is plenty big enough to keep up with this demand.

Phase 2:

With Phase 2, the collection area from the second tower is being added, as well as a water supply for non-potable use. An additional treated groundwater cistern has been added to expand on-site water use.