supply, not only for drinking water but also for fire protection.”
New towers don’t come cheap, though: The price tag was
$2.4 million. But in 2009, the City had an opportunity to receive
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding available
through the WDNR Safe Drinking Water Loan program. The City
could qualify for a $1.2 million grant and a matching loan – but it had
to have a shovel-ready project.
“We had been looking at replacing the tower over the last few
years,” Christensen said. “We interviewed several firms and felt Ayres
Associates had the most resources and would be able to turn this
around in quick order. They met our goals and have been partners
with us through this project.”
To meet the grant deadline, Ayres Associates completed final
project plans and specifications in just three weeks. The company also
has provided grant administration services.
The new tower is a composite style with a concrete base and a
steel storage reservoir. The composite tower provides long-term cost
savings because the concrete base has virtually no maintenance costs;
it also provides storage and equipment space, said Angi Goodwin,
the lead Ayres Associates engineer on the project. The project also
involved extending 1,700 feet of water main, upgrading the City wells
to provide water to the new tower, installing backup generators, and
designing a SCADA system to improve system monitoring.
“For a small community, a $2.4 million project is huge. At every
corner Ayres Associates has been there to assist us and keep us on
track,” Christensen said. “I don’t think we could have done this
without making the right choice in a firm that would help us.”
Drinking water for the City of Sarasota on Florida’s Gulf Coast
comes from 50 deep-water wells tapping the Upper Floridian
aquifer. There’s plenty of water; the challenge is making sure the
water system infrastructure can handle the demand. That’s why the
City has just completed water main upgrades in four locations. “The
existing lines were old, leaking, losing pressure, and requiring
continuous maintenance,” said Ayres Associates project engineer Dori
Sabeh.
The old asbestos cement or cast iron lines were replaced with
plastic PVC lines. “Manufacturers talk about a 50-year life for the
PVC lines,” said Dale Haas, capital project manager for the City. “We
expect them to last lo nger than that. There’s nothing to corrode in that
pipe, and as long as we don’t have physical damage from the outside,
we expect them to last a very long time.”
The new water tower (top photo) in Cumberland, Wisconsin, awaiting its
finishing coat of paint, will provide additional water supply and pressure for
businesses and residents. In Sarasota, Florida, jack and bore casing at South
Orange Avenue (center photo) allowed the new water main to be installed
under a busy state highway with minimal traffic disruption. Fusion equipment
(bottom photo) was used to prepare the 2,100-foot fusible PVC water main
pipe for installation under Sarasota’s Big Pass waterway.