Incredible progress has been made on the collection of projects referred to as The South Well Field Project since breaking ground a little over a year ago. Below is an update from Chris Unruh, BPU Project Engineer on the status of each one of the projects.
South Well Field Production Wells
With PLi finishing up the construction of the Well Houses, BPU team members from both the power plant maintenance department and the substation and controls department have been working on the installation of electrical conduit, wiring, and device installation in preparation for the delivery of the Variable Frequency Drives and Programmable Logic Controllers at the end of May. Layne Christensen will be onsite in mid-June to install the well pumps and motors. The installation and testing by Layne is estimated to take three days per well house, as BPU will assist with testing the pumps once installed. Variable Frequency Drives are scheduled to be delivered on June 5th-June 12th. Well, the Pump installation will likely be at the end of June. They are currently coordinating longer lead times that what was communicated in my last update.
South Well Field Pipeline
The last 4-weeks of favorable weather has allowed M CON to increase productivity, helping make up for the harsh January weather. M CON has two crews installing mainline pipe, and once crew working through the process of pressure testing the pipe. The installation of the raw water main is expected to be complete by mid-May. Approximately 14-miles of the 20-inch pipeline has been pressure tested; isolating 1-mile segments to ensure seating of the butterfly valves along the alignment. Installation of the air release vaults and combination air valve assemblies will resume on the remaining portion of the pipeline, and pressure testing is expected to be completed in May as well. The pipeline is 100% installed and tested. Above grade finishes such as, marker posts, test stations and grass seeding is underway.
Water Treatment Plant
PLi is finishing up the underground installation of piping and related site work. The primary construction of the Greensand Building was completed earlier this year. Finishes such as waterproofing exterior masonry, downspouts, windows, and doors has the space secured for the installation of process electrical and controls for the green sand filter vessels.
The BPU maintenance team has been working toward the final assembly of the internal and exterior process piping for the greensand filter vessels. The completion of this work will allow for Loprest, a division of Water Remediation Technology (Greensand Filter Vessel Manufactures), to test the air distribution system. This system is designed to aid with conditioning the greensand filter media used to filter iron and manganese.
The electrical and Controls teams are actively engaged in implementing the new greensand system into our existing operations. Electrical checks, equipment startup, and owner training will commence in June, with the plant expected to be commissioned in July. PLI is working on the underground installation of the back wash waste piping and working through punch list items to wrap up their scope of work. Delivery of the remaining control equipment is expected in mid-June and will be tested in conjunction with final commissioning activities.
BPU and Loprest ( the Green sand Vessel Supplier) have completed the air distribution test and electrical check and will be testing the filter backwash function the week of June 3. This leads to adding the final media layer needed to complete the filter vessels in preparation of disinfection and rinsing the vessels to be ready for final commissioning scheduled for mid-July.