ALABAMA STATE EDITION
231
65
72 Florence
2
Huntsville
20 Decatur
72
565 59
43
A Supplement to:
231
431
31
5
Gadsden
78 59 Anniston
20
Birmingham Bessemer
82 Tuscaloosa
65 280
20 82 Auburn
80
85
Selma
Phenix City
Montgomery
82
December 12 2012 Vol. XXIV • No. 25
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
Dothan
65 98
Mobile
10
Your Alabama Connection • Rich Olivier, Atlanta, GA • 1-800-409-1479
Shades Mountain Filter Plant Receives Improvements By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
After three years, major improvements to the Birmingham Water Works’ century-old Shades Mountain Filter Plant in Birmingham, Ala., are now complete. In August 2009, general contractor B.L. Harbert International LLC (BLHI), began work on the facility, which is located off Highway 280 just three mi. south of downtown. Construction on the $41 million project was finished in June 2012. “The plant needed to increase its storage capacity and upgrade its existing pumping system to comply with updated state and federal regulations. It varied throughout the duration of construction, but the maximum number of personnel on site was around 125 at one time,” said Jeremy Pipkin, LEED AP with BLHI. Pipkin said the objective of the Phase II upgrade project at the plant is to increase the water storage capacity of the plant by 600 percent, while consolidating pumping operations and upgrading electrical systems for the entire plant. This will add two six-million-gallon pre-stressed concrete clearwells, a transfer pump station, a finished water pump station, a new electrical building and a new lime treatment facility. A total of 16 horizontal split case pumps and three vertical turbine pumps will be added to the plant, which will replace the plant’s older pumps that are spread throughout the campus. The project also adds approximately 7,000 linear ft. (2,133 m) of large diameter ductile iron pipe ranging from 24 to 60 in. (61 to 152 cm) in diameter. This new pipe ties into the existing lines of the system in 19 different tie-in locations. A majority of the existing lines are between 50 and 100 years old and require tie-in with custom fittings to tie ductile iron pipe to cast iron lines and concrete cylinder pipe with no existing means to stop the current flow. Different methods are utilized to temporarily stop the flow to allow the tie-ins to occur. In some cases line stops were utilized to facilitate this and in other cases divers were sent into the
Excavation for 60-in. (152 cm) ductile iron pipe.
Main service line tie-in.
Photo courtesy of B.L. Harbert International LLC
existing operating clearwell to plug the lines exiting the clearwell. “The biggest challenge was working around the existing piping and structures of the 100-plus-year-old facility,” said Pipkin. “We had to make certain to protect existing piping while installing the new 28-feet deep transfer pump station. We were also tying in to several existing pipes in the system where flow needed to be stopped prior to the tie-in work commencing. We accomplished stopping flow by utilizing line stops in some cases. In other cases we put divers in the existing clearwell to perform camera observation of the lines. After we observed the lines we knew which ones to plug to stop flow. We also had to make certain that our actions onsite did not affect the distribution service since the system for the city relies on several different filter and pump stations to balance the supply of water to customers.” Pipkin continued, “We used equipment from mini-excavators to D-10 dozers and litsee PLANT page 6
Photo courtesy of B.L. Harbert International LLC