section is getting cleaned by a high-pressure spray bar ,” Pletcher explained . “ The screen creates a barrier between the raw water from the ditch and the screened water entering the pipeline .”
Pletcher found a screen manufacturer – Hydro-Dyne Engineering , Inc ., of Oldsmar , Florida – while browsing through a trade magazine . He e-mailed President Jay Conroy and received a response that evening . Hydro-Dyne had recently commissioned equipment for a similar application in British Columbia . The group quickly convened in Abbotsford , British Columbia , to view the screening technology in operation and meet with Conroy .
During that meeting , Conroy said he was skeptical the Fort Collins project could be completed so quickly . “ The timeline was so tight . We were pretty comfortable that we could make it happen on our end , but that doesn ’ t mean anything if the City , Ayres Associates , and Hydro Construction don ’ t perform flawlessly ,” he said . “ It just sounded like an uphill battle . In my experience on other projects I didn ’ t think we had much of a chance to meet that schedule .”
Jim Eurich , vice president and chief of operations for Hydro Construction , credits the APDS process for allowing the team to “ do something that couldn ’ t be done .” With this system , he said , “ you check your ego at the door , set aside your own interests , and focus on the project . It works .”
In fact , by the time the group left British Columbia , they had all agreed on the time schedule . “ We did a week ’ s worth of work in two hours while we had dinner ,” Randall said . Conroy submitted shop drawings a few days later , and Ayres Associates and the City approved them in an hour around a conference table . Hydro Construction started making physical modifications to the existing structure to fit the screen while the new screen was being built . The group negotiated a contract in 10 days , as opposed to the typical 10 to 12 weeks with a standard contract mechanism .
Ayres Associates staff in the Tampa , Florida , office visited nearby Hydro-Dyne Engineering as the screen was being prepared for shipment and confirmed final dimensions for coordination with Hydro Construction ’ s work in Fort Collins . With a tight project timeline , Hydro Construction was ready to set the screen in place the morning it arrived onsite .
Left : The dual-flow stainless steel traveling screen , shown here being installed with a crane , was retro-fit into the existing intake structure .
Top right : Wash water for the screen is generated onsite with this piping system that takes screened water through a basket filter to the spray bar headers at the top of the screen .