Construction crews are at the halfway point on improvements to the water system at the Pocatello Regional Airport.
Part of those improvements includes the construction of a 500,000 gallon concrete, underground water tank. The plans also call for a new well to be drilled and a new booster station constructed.
“To put the size of the tank into perspective, you could cover an acre of ground with a little over 18 inches of water,” said Mike Jaglowski, Public Works Director for the City of Pocatello.
The new features will replace the original 150,000 gallon above-ground tank and pressure system that was built in 1976. In 2011, it was found that the system did not meet fire suppression flow conditions for the existing land uses and industries.
“When the City of Pocatello set out to design this project we looked at three things,” Jaglowski said. “First, we looked at safety, in that will it provide maximum safety for our citizens in the event of an emergency. Secondly, we took into account security, so how do we protect the project. Third was aesthetics. We wanted to make sure it was appealing to the eye since the new asset is located centrally. For this project, it meant we had to put it mostly underground.”
Some of those updates have a bit of a modern touch as well.
“To control the old system, someone has to come out and physically operate the valves and switches,” Jaglowski said. “Up to date, computerized control equipment will be installed with the new system providing additional efficiency during operation of the entire Airport water system.”
The new system also utilizes a square, baffled design instead of a typical round shape. By changing this one facet of the system, it makes planning for the future much easier.
“Round tanks are very difficult to expand because of their shape. Square tanks, on the other hand, are designed for future expansion. We can easily add another 500,000 gallon tank to the system by building the new tank and connecting it to this one” Jaglowski said.
The project is currently scheduled to be completed and operational in December 2015.
Some quick facts about the project are included below:
Site:
Centrally located to improve system wide distribution
Low profile assets to improve aesthetics
Buried storage for aesthetics, asset safety, and possible future open space
Tank:
Tank Volume – 500,000 gallons
Tank Size – 93 feet long x 45 feet wide x 21 feet deep
Tank Configuration – Rectangle, Buried, Channelize flow pattern
Booster Pump Station:
Flow Capacity – 3,400 gpm
Delivery Pressure – 90 psi
Total Pumps / Configuration – 4 / Parallel
Back Up Power – 400 KW Diesel Generator
Drinking Water Well & Well House:
Well Pump Capacity – 990 gpm
Disinfection Equipment within Well Building
Aquifer Water Quality – good, clean, cold
Aquifer Water Quantity – undetermined, anticipated 2,500 gpm
Aquifer reliability - Stable
Note: The majority of the above information has been taken from the Preliminary Engineering Report produced October 2014 by Keller Associates