360° View inside the plant

The 14 million-gallon-per-day Keokuk water treatment facility is the first ClariCone™ based plant to be designed for both two-stage and single-stage clarifier/softener operation and also the first of this type to be built on top of the facility it replaces. The turbidity of the Mississippi River water, the plants source, can fluctuate from 10 to 1,000 nephelometric turbidity units. Seasonal water temperature changes from just above freezing to >80°F further complicate treatment. The old Plant was a low-level, sod-covered structure. The new plant is housed in a five story building that extends over the old settling basins, which have been converted to clearwells.

Concrete foundations for each of four 60 foot-diameter helical upflow solids contact ClariCone™ clarifiers/softeners rest on bedrock. Each of the two 26-foot diameter downflow Helicarb recarbonation tanks is supported by an octagonal concrete cap on top of a single 42 inch diameter column that penetrates one of the old settling tanks and rests on the bedrock.

When water conditions permit, the ClariCones™ can be run as a single-stage system with each ClariCone™ operating as both a clarifier and softener effectively doubling the capacity of the plant. Valve adjustments allow easy conversion between single-stage and two-stage treatment.

The plant provides an unobstructed view of Lock and Dam No.19 and of victory park. In the winter about 700 bald eagles visit the unfrozen river below the dam.

Exposure of the bluff in the west wall is part of a passive heating and cooling system. Air passed over the rocks cools the building in the summer and heats it during the winter. Plant visitors can see geodes in the Keokuk limestone wall.