In keeping an eye towards our region’s growth and to serve our customers more effectively and efficiently, construction to expand our Water Treatment Plant (WTP) continues to move right along. The project began in 2020 and, when finished, will add the capacity to treat another 10 million gallons of water per day, allowing us to meet future demands for years to come. The project is being performed by T.A. Loving Company and is scheduled for completion in 2023.  

GUC’s existing Plant was placed into service in 1983 with a capacity of 12 million gallons per day (mgd). An expansion to the plant was completed in 2002, resulting in the current “rated” treatment capacity of 22.5 mgd. Our customer base and system demands have continued to increase. New water use records have been set including the most recent peak day record of 18.775 mgd in October 2021. 

Two sections of expansion construction are taking place. On one side of the main Plant building is construction for the new superpulsator clarifier. On the opposite side of the Plant building is construction for an additional chemical storage facility. The following is a brief recap and update of each project. 

Superpulsator Construction   
This newer technology combines rapid mix, flocculators, and sedimentation into a single tank. Superpulsators eliminate the need for additional sludge collection and removal facilities, which take up a lot of space.   

Once the superpulsator construction is complete, the Plant will split the water clarification flow. The conventional gravity-fed side will continue handling the original 22.5 mgd, while the new superpulsator will handle the additional 10 mgd.  

Some major milestones with the project include: new filter backwash pipe is in service; four new filters have the majority of the walls poured and underdrain piping installed; completed tie-in of existing filter effluent piping to a section of the new filter piping; rapid mixer and superpulsator walls formed; leak tests and brick installation on the pre-chemical building housed next to superpulsator completed; and the new clearwell pumpstation foundation was graded with walls to be poured in the coming weeks. 

Chemical Storage Facility  
The new facility is located across from the original bulk storage facility, which will remain in place. Once construction is complete, new aluminum sulfate and orthophosphate tanks will be placed in the new building while additional sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite tanks will be added to the existing building.    

Major updates to this project include: four aluminum sulfate tanks and one orthophosphate tank installed; the interior has been painted; and the exterior brick installation is complete minus a small section to be finished after lifts are removed from inside the building.  

 In the coming months, new chemical feed pumps and instrumentation will be installed.