Central City required assistance with assessing the needs of its 4.0 million gallons per day (MGD) water treatment plant (WTP) and plan for future upgrades.

During the plan development phase, our team conducted public meetings and met with the City Council and customer system boards to present the project and discuss the impacts on water availability, water quality, user rates, system indebtedness, and other issues. We also assisted with acquiring project funding.

Our comprehensive preliminary engineering study reviewed numerous design alternatives. Our recommendations identified a 75 percent reduction in cost of comparative treatment processes over a previous engineering study. The report analyzed source water quality, treatment goals and regulatory trends, existing river water intake and treatment plant performance, treatment alternatives, existing structure and utility condition, and project cost and schedule.

It was decided to retrofit the existing WTP to a 7.0 MGD capacity while keeping the WTP in service. The final design and construction included the following components:

River Water Intake/Pump Station
• Three new 3.6 MGD river water vertical turbine pumps
• New electrical and chemical building with motor control center (MCC) room

Water Treatment Plant
• New rapid mix system
• Conversion of existing sedimentation basin to a flocculation basin
• New 1.25 million gallon-plus sedimentation basin
• Two new 500,000-gallon clearwells
• New high service pump station, including 3-3.5 MGD pumps
• New chemical feed building and modifications to coagulant feed facilities
• Miscellaneous structural and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning improvements

Distribution System
• Replacement of undersized transmission mains and additional elevated storage