New Water Treatment Plant for Keokuk Municipal Water Works, Keokuk, Iowa
This project consisted of designing a new 14 MGD water plant using Mississippi River water for the City of Keokuk, Iowa. This project involved installing four (4) new 7 MGD clarifiers (operating as a two stage lime softening plant at 14 MGD or a single stage lime softening plant at 28 MGD), using the existing process units as a new clear well, installing new sand filters and re-carbonation units, and installing new high and low services pumps to accommodate the new plant.
This project required a very strict schedule; construction would need to be started and completed in a very short time frame. In fact, from the time the engineering contract was issued to the time the plant needed to be in operation, was only 30 months.
Notable Design and Construction Features:
- 36 feet high tie back retaining wall*
- New plant building was constructed over top of existing structure
- Existing water treatment plant had to remain in operation throughout construction.
- Exposed rock ledges inside the building; Foundations were placed directly on rock with cassons and braced columns
- New water treatment plant building was designed to provide a positive appearance to the City of Keokuk.
*Following the completion of this project, PSBA received an award from the Iowa Ready Mixed Concrete Association. The projects large (36 feet high) tie-back concrete retaining wall utilized rock anchors, that were drilled and grouted into the existing rock bluff. This was a dramatic and economical solution for stabilizing the bluff.
