Cal Community Center

Caledonia Community Schools partnered with the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids to operate the new 47,000-square-foot Cal Community Center, which opened on March 3, 2025. The school district helped fund the facility with a 2020 bond. The YMCA manages facility operations, community programs, and on-site childcare services.

Before construction, the project faced a big obstacle: the high volume of wastewater discharge that the backwash sand filtration requires would have been too much for the local sanitary system to handle. Permitting stalled until the design team found a filtration solution that could deliver safe, clean pool water without overwhelming the local community infrastructure.

The facility installed two commercial-grade AquaRevival regenerative media pool filters—a technologically advanced alternative to traditional backwash sand systems. Because AquaRevival filters don’t backwash, they instead revive their environmentally friendly perlite media, using a fraction of the water and space that competitive systems require.

1. Smaller system footprint led to lower construction costs

   The two AquaRevival systems fit into a significantly smaller pump room than backwashed sand or other competitive regenerative filters would have required. The more compact design reduced the overall construction costs.

2. No backwashing means dramatic water savings

   Traditional backwash sand filters for a facility this size would have discharged more than 5,000 gallons of water per week. Over more than six months of operation, the AquaRevival systems were drained and rinsed only once, using a combined total of 1,492 gallons, saving over 130,000 gallons of make-up water and discharge water over that period.

3. Permitting made possible

   According to the client: “Pre-permitting, we couldn’t get discharge permitting until we found the AquaRevival system. Our water, chemical, and heating costs are all very low compared to other facilities of this size.”

4. Major taxpayer savings on media replacement

   Comparable systems would have required regenerative media changes six to ten times over the same period. By avoiding those replacements, taxpayers who fund the facility are projected to save between $12,000 and $20,000.

5. Infrastructure crisis averted

   The project’s biggest infrastructure risk was the need to replace the community’s sanitary main to accommodate massive backwash discharge volumes. The issue was eliminated once the high-volume wastewater concerns were resolved.