Tomorrow Water Advances Climate‑Resilient Wet Weather Treatment in Daejeon
Tomorrow Water is advancing climate‑resilient infrastructure with a new 95 MGD (360,000 m³/d) Wet Weather Flow treatment facility now under construction in Daejeon, one of Korea’s major metropolitan cities, and scheduled to start operation in 2029.
As extreme rainfall intensifies, many cities with combined sewer systems are struggling to fully treat wastewater during peak wet weather events. This creates real public health risks and demands new treatment capacity that can fit within tight urban footprints while delivering reliable solids removal for downstream disinfection.
Korea has been a leader in this space. Over the past decade, Proteus Primary has been successfully deployed at Seoul’s Seonam (190 MGD, 720,000 m³/d) and Jungnang (132 MGD, 500,000 m³/d) facilities, followed by Namyangju and now Daejeon. Commercialization discussions are also progressing in the US with MMSD and several utilities and engineering partners.
Proteus offers a step change from conventional primary clarification and other filtration technologies that treat wastewater across a thin, flat media surface. Proteus operates throughout the full depth and volume of a media bed, a true multi‑dimensional approach. This fundamental structural difference, often compared to 2D versus 3D systems:
Only 15% of primary clarification footprint
Higher, more stable solids removal without chemicals
A true 3D media process, treating unpredictable flow variations through the full depth and volume of the bed
Clog resistant performance during peak flows, eliminating the operational burden associated with periodically cleaning clogged media using high‑pressure equipment, another 3D effect!
Beyond Korea and North America, Proteus is now being commercialized in Europe through a collaboration with Stereau, a subsidiary of Saur.
As cities face the dual pressures of climate change and aging infrastructure, Tomorrow Water’s integrated solutions provide a clear path forward by protecting public health, maximizing limited space, and strengthening the resilience of urban water systems. This announcement comes on the heels of the award for the new sludge treatment line at the Daejeon Central WWTP (172 MGD, 650,000 ㎥/d), where our Integrated Upstream Process (IUP), combining Draco, AAD, and AMX, is also currently being built. Together, these parallel projects demonstrate a fully integrated approach to wet‑weather treatment, solids management, and energy-efficient nutrient removal.