The City of Whiting, IN needed to replace a failing dry weather flow influent screen at its combined sewer pump station and also wanted to provide coarse screen protection for its 30,000 gallons per minute (gpm) wet weather pumps. While the original design of the screen influent structure included a bar screen for the dry weather 3.5 MGD flow channel, no provisions were made for screening the flows to the 130 MGD wet weather flow channel. After operating without screening protection for 40 years and making multiple repairs to the 30,000 gpm wet weather pumps during that period, the city sent out an RFP for a design/build solution to the influent screening problem.
Weston teamed up with both a local general contractor and equipment manufacturer to develop a unique solution to this problem. By using the combined expertise of the design/build team, we were able to develop a design that included the dry weather and wet weather screens with minimal modifications to the influent structure. Our winning bid was within the project budget, and our proposed construction schedule was shorter than the city’s desired schedule by several months.
The project was completed on schedule with no change orders, and the influent screens were in place prior to excessive rainfall events during the spring months. This project provided protection for the high-capacity wet weather pumps that would have otherwise gone unprotected.
