Wright-Pierce was the recipient of an Honor Award for Unique Application of Existing Technology from American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), Maine Chapter, for our role in helping the Greater Augusta Utility District (GAUD) design a combined sewer overflow (CSO) storage tank to reduce CSO discharges into the Kennebec River.
In Maine, there is a common thread among all communities: protection of the state’s waterways and natural resources. GAUD’s long-term control plan to reduce CSOs included the construction of a CSO storage tank along its East Side Interceptor Sewer.
GAUD enlisted Wright-Pierce to provide conceptual and final design engineering services for a 1 million gallon prestressed concrete storage tank as part of its CSO mitigation effort. The design was based on GAUD’s concept of using a wire-wound, prestressed concrete tank to meet its needs. Typically, a traditional underground tank is utilized for such projects, but GAUD and Wright-Pierce recognized utilization of a tank conventionally used for water storage on a wastewater project would result in cost savings. The project was also able to provide additional site parking and standby power to the entire District campus. The CSO storage tank has performed well and resulted in reduction of over 4 million gallons of CSO discharge in its first year online.
As part of this project, Wright-Pierce also performed an assessment to determine whether the nearby Howard Street Pump Station should be rehabilitated or replaced. The pump station, which was responsible for pumping sanitary flows, was 50 years old and beyond its useful life. It was decided that the most cost-effective approach was replacement of the aging station with a new station as part of the CSO storage tank project. The old pump station was located within Howard Street Park, but the new pump station is located on the same site as the CSO storage tank. This has resulted in the improved appearance of the park.
Kevin Obery, Wright-Pierce’s Project Manager for this project, commented that “This was a very interesting project, working with the team from GAUD in fine-tuning the conceptual plan and then preparing the plans and specifications to allow the project to be constructed. The completed project provides an easy-to-operate solution to protect the water quality of the Kennebec River.”
Watch the video below to see the project evolution and contact us today to learn more.