RIVERTON — With a $40 million price tag, anyone might wonder how a network of spaghetti-like strands could be the key to keeping the peace in a quiet Riverton neighborhood.

But when those strands promise to deal with millions of gallons of feces, produce clean water and not stink up a 10-mile radius, the answer becomes obvious.

That's why the South Valley Sewer District made a decision to change course from a standard sewer system that incited lawsuits and protests from most of Riverton. Instead, it has opted for a technologically advanced — and expensive — membrane water treatment system designed by GE. The system is considered to be on the cutting edge of water treatment, and for the South Valley Sewer District, it's the golden ticket that changed everyone's minds.

"I would say it was probably the pivotal issue," South Valley Sewer District manager Craig White said.

"The citizens group has come a long way from 'We won't support it' to 'We'll support it if you do this,' and the plant was going from putting in what we thought we could afford and then going to a higher technology, realizing the residents would have to pay for it. Both sides came together."

Since opting for GE's ultra-filtration membrane water treatment system, the district has received site plan approval from Riverton and approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. White expects the plant's design to be completed in about a year.

GE's ultra-filtration water treatment system is already being used in three other wastewater treatment plants in Utah, but when the South Valley Sewer District is built to capacity, the plant will be among the largest in the country. Wastewater will enter the plant and go through a screening process that will eliminate large particles. Grit and other inorganic material is then sifted out, and the water is pumped through another, smaller screen to a membrane bioractor basin, which has the ultra-filtration treatment system.

It's an elaborate, expensive process, but with the rising price of construction and concrete, according to South Valley Sewer District engineering consultant Larry Bowen, the project may actually end up costing the same as a standard treatment system, which produces a lower quality of water.

Besides wastewater treatment, GE Water and Process Technologies media relations manager Tony Kobilnyk says the system is used for a lot of different purposes.

'There are hundreds of plants around the world that are using (the membrane system) for everything from drinking water treatment to wastewater treatment to water reuse," Kobilnyk said. "Now the technology is even being used in sea water desalination plants ... for pre-treatment of the water that's coming out of the ocean. Quite often, there is a lot of silt and debris in sea water. We're using our superior filtration membrane to give desalination systems the best possible water to work with."